ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – Residents in a North Abilene neighborhood are speaking out about a fire and a shooting happening just hours apart early Wednesday morning. They worry about the future of their once tranquil neighborhood.

Some residents in the neighborhood heard a gunshot and emergency services, but others were asleep, telling KTAB/KRBC just how atypical the morning was for the area, and these events give them pause. 

Wednesday morning, residents on Victoria Street woke up to a large police presence on their road. 

“I see all the police and people there, and then more police and fire department, and then they put [out] the yellow lines,” depicted one resident, Enrique Cantu, who has lived there for 32 years. 

This large police presence followed a shooting during an altercation at around 7:00 a.m., where a woman was shot and taken to the hospital. 

“Another person was taken to the hospital with injuries as well – not a gunshot wound. I think blunt force, maybe this baseball bat from what we’re hearing, but we are still looking into it,” Rick Tomlin with the Abilene Police Department (APD) told KTAB/KRBC.

Only a few hours earlier that morning, just before 4:00 a.m., a backyard shed went up in flames two blocks away. 

Residents in this neighborhood insisted Victoria is typically a quiet street, so they were shocked to wake up to two major events happening. 

“I never see this problem here,” said Cantu. At 73 years old, he said he wants to make sure this area stays safe, since he says he sees more crime every year. 

Another resident, Julianna Medellin, told KTAB/KRBC she’s lived in this neighborhood her whole life, and lets her daughter play outside in the front yard. 

“It makes me a little nervous. I didn’t hear anything for one, and two, it just makes me nervous for my kids,” Medellin shared. “We’ll probably stay inside for a little while.” 

Even though Cantu said he knows law enforcement is busy, “I need more safe in here, and I need more police around.”

Cantu added that he was concerned problems could continue in the area.  

No arrests have been made from the shooting, and it is still under investigation. 

The Abilene Fire Department said the shed was totally consumed by the fire, leaving very little evidence to determine the cause, and the cause is being considered undetermined at this time.