BALLWIN, Mo. — A man was hospitalized Monday morning after being shot in the chest in the front yard of a Ballwin home.
According to the Ballwin Police Department, officers responded at about 9 a.m. Monday to the 300 block of Wildforest Court, near the Ballwin Golf Course, for the report of shots fired. There, they found a man in his 30s who had been shot in the chest.
The victim was taken to an area hospital for treatment, police said. Police said Monday evening, the victim was still being treated for his injuries.
One person was detained, and detectives were investigating what led up to the shooting, police said.
Officer Mark Reckert, a spokesperson for the Ballwin Police Department said, "There was no danger to the public."
Fear raced through Jennifer Cobzos' body when she heard gunfire from her neighbor's front yard.
Her family moved to the neighborhood in Ballwin one year ago.
"[I] thought it was a car backfiring or a fire cracker but then I saw the police racing down the street and I ran to the window. I yelled to my husband and he looked out and there was somebody laying on the ground," Cobzos said.
Monday afternoon the suspected shooter was out of police custody and told 5 On Your Side's Diamond Palmer the man he shot did not live at the home.
Instead, he was sleeping inside of the suspected shooter's Black pickup truck.
When the suspected shooter went to confront the person inside his car, that's when he says he was attacked and had to "act out of self defense."
Cobzos said things could've been much different as she feared for her young children.
She said they boarded their school bus just steps away from the home 10 minutes before the gunfire.
"I was just terrified, I was just glad they weren't standing down there. I couldn't get it out of my head how that would've affected them [her children] if they would've seen that happen," Cobzos said.
Cobzos knows her neighbor as a friendly person.
"I think everybody who lives around here is shocked by all of this. They're very very nice people, it's a very quiet house, and very quiet neighborhood," Cobzos said.
Ballwin Police say the shooting is still under investigation.
Resources for crime victims
If you have been a victim of a crime or know someone who has been, 5 On Your Side has compiled a list of resources.
The Crime Victim Center of St. Louis has multiple programs to support victims of crime. Crime Victim Center’s programs range from direct services to crime victims as well as “creating awareness and change within the systems they encounter.”
Life Outside of Violence "helps those harmed by stabbing, gunshot or assault receive the treatment, support and resources they need to find alternatives to end the cycle of violence."
The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis has the Neighborhood Healing Network, which serves people who have experienced crime, violence or been the victim of an incident that caused trauma.
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