Apparent gunfire hits houses in neighborhood south of Lawrence High

Lawrence police are investigating after bullets apparently struck two houses in a neighborhood south of Lawrence High School.

Officers were called to the 2100 block of Carolina Street about 1:20 p.m. Friday on a report of the sound of gunshots and found “damage consistent with bullet impacts on two houses on the block,” Officer Drew Fennelly said in an email.

No injuries were reported and, as of Monday morning, no arrests had been made, he said. Fennelly said very little witness information about a possible suspect was available and the investigation was ongoing.

One of the houses that was hit also was the location of a shooting in 2015, Fennelly said, although police at this time don’t know if the incidents are related.

In that case from Sept. 18, 2015, a 16-year-old boy had been standing outside the house about 4:40 a.m. when a man in a mask ran up, “hit him upside” the head with a handgun then — after a brief scuffle — shot him in the leg as he tried to run away, according to previous Journal-World reports. The victim was treated at the hospital and released the same day. Anthony Jermaine Taylor, then 19, pleaded no contest to aggravated battery, a felony, and was sentenced to probation in January 2016.

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— I’m the Journal-World’s public safety reporter. Reach me by email at sshepherd@ljworld.com or by phone at 785-832-7187. I’m also on Twitter, @saramarieshep.