Mom works to protect her Monroe neighborhood from stray bullets

SEATTLE - A young mom is fighting to protect her community from stray bullets threatening the safety of her family, friends and neighbors.

On the Fourth of July, Elly Britt said her neighborhood dealt with a terrifying experience.

“You shouldn’t even be thinking about gun violence, or bullets coming at your children and it’s a real worry that something could happen,” she said.

A stray bullet hit her neighbor’s home, hitting a glass sliding door, while Britt says her neighbor’s children were outside.

Unfortunately, this was not a one-off incident.

“We have a plan now. That’s not something I thought we would need to have in this community,” said Britt.

Britt’s neighborhood is in Monroe; however, her backyard butts up to the Snohomish County line where it is legal to shoot guns.

As a mother of two young girls, Britt said she did not want her family, and her community to live in fear.

“It just doesn’t sit with me that we’re sitting so close to where people are able shoot. So, I reached out to the council, the mayor, the sheriffs, anybody I could,” she said.

Snohomish County council member Sam Low heard Britt and other community members' concerns. Low introduced an emergency ordinance to create a “no shoot” zone near Britt’s neighborhood.

“I just decided it’s not time to wait; we need to take action now,” he said. “People need to feel safe in their communities and feel safe in their homes,” Low added.

Wednesday morning, Snohomish County Council will hold public input on the emergency ordinance, and vote on the proposal.

Low says if it passes, the “no shoot” zone will go into effect immediately.