A New York City father who nearly lived every parent's nightmare earlier this month when a stray bullet narrowly missed his six-year-old daughter's bed, told "The Story" Wednesday that crime and violence has led to a dire situation in America's largest city.
Rodney Miller, a Harlem residen, described the July 4 incident as a "horror."
"It really threw me for a serious loop because you're in your home, where you eat, sleep, relax, have family functions and the whole thing," he told host Martha MacCallum. "When something that of that magnitude of happens in your home, you fear for your safety, your children and your whole life as well."
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Miller told MacCallum that several cars parked on the street in front of his home were also riddled with bullets. A 31-year-old man has been charged with reckless endangerment in the incident.
"[Think of] the number of people could have gotten killed, it was the 4th of July," he said.
Miller blamed the spike in violence across the city on two factors: young people being "more scared of themselves than they are of others" and the deteriorating relationship between police and neighborhood residents.
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"I grew up in South Jamaica, Queens, I live in Harlem now," he said. "I've been here for five years and I see the situation. The situation has not been good because ... they don't interact with the neighborhood, they just drive by and that's about it.
"Interacting with the neighborhood and seeing what these kids are doing, I think it would [make for] a better situation ... they need to interact more with the community and I think it would be less of a problem of things like this happening."