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Stray Bullet Strikes Cottage Hill Home; Deputies Find Target Shooters Nearby
February 18, 2026
There were no injuries reported when a stray bullet went through the window of a home in Cottage Hill on Saturday.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office responded to a reported drive-by shooting on Handy Road. They arrived to find a bullet hole in a bedroom window.
While on scene, deputies heard the “distinct sounds” of additional gunfire, an ECSO spokesperson said on Tuesday. They determined the gunfire was coming from a wooded area and located two individuals target practicing in a clearing about one-half mile from the home.
Deputies said the individuals were firing into some sort of backstop, and one shot apparently missed. The sheriff’s office said they were firing 9mm rounds, like those discovered at the home. The incident was not considered malicious.
NorthEscambia.com file photo.
Comments
8 Responses to “Stray Bullet Strikes Cottage Hill Home; Deputies Find Target Shooters Nearby”
To all those crying about gun shots or possibly being hit with a stray or teaching these guys a “lesson” this is what you get when you live in the “country”! I’d rather hear gun shots I know are at targets lord forbid one miss and hit a person. But it’s what we signed up for living out here! Laws are lax and we aren’t worried with kids shooting at each other or our houses. People just want to have something to complain about! But if you don’t “feel” safe in your home and ur kids can’t be kids personally I’d be looking for property elsewhere! Big money is stacking too many damn houses in here anyways! And it’s starting to feel like the country ain’t it no more a lot of Karen’s moving in from up north gonna turn our area into what they left.
@IMHO, ammo is not expensive now. I generally shoot off about 500 or so rounds on the weekends. 9mm is about 19 cents a round right now. So 500 rounds, purchased in bulk, is less than $100. I have some weapons that I am frugal with. For example, I might only put 50 rounds down range on the weekends with my 308, which runs around $1 per round!
Some people spend hundreds a month on vices like starbucks, drinking, smoking, etc. I just choose to buy ammo and shoot on the weekends as my vice
I don’t understand, I have the same problem and the neighbors shoot A LOT, kids are scared, they just come in the house running ,crying it’s sad when you can’t be comfortable & feel safe in your own home ,I just pray nothing comes this way. I’ve called The ECSO and they told me the same thing.
I hear lots of shooting across the street from the fire department lately. I dont know how people can afford to waste so many bullets! I hope they are using thick targets cause they are houses and the rail road track back there
Sadly, this is not the first stray bullet in Cottage Hill! We have a neighbor behind us who gave permission for PRIVATE SHOOTING RANGE on this property that the county ALLOWED! My husband was nearly struck with a rifle round a few years ago in our own back yard, and the noise of semi-auto and AUTOMATIC gunfire back there has been a constant reminder of the threat to our neighborhood’s safety from stray rounds. We called Escambia County and they told us there is NOTHING they or we can do to shut this gun range down.
This was our home long before this private range started back there and now we live with the sounds of gunfire so frequently that it is frightening. Why does our county allow this??????
Now I gotta worry about being in my own yard? Great….just great
They should still be charged with something. The bullet came through a child’s bedroom. Criminal mischief, endangerment, anything to teach people a lesson. Accident or not, if a child or person would’ve been injured or dead, they would be getting charged for something way worse. Since no one is harmed or dead, they get to walk away free? Crazy.
Even though it is legal to shoot in the county, I consider my elderly neighbors. We like it quite around here. Moreover, why waste the ammo; you are going to need it.