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16 gunshots fired into a Riverview home over the weekend

A Riverview couple is now calling on the sheriff's office to do more after more than 16 gunshots were fired into their house.

RIVERVIEW, Fla. — More than a dozen gunshots were fired into a Riverview home.

The couple who lives in Riverview where this happened told their story to 10 Tampa Bay in hopes to create safe change in their neighborhood. Their goal is to get more deputies on duty in their Progress Village neighborhood along 82nd Street. 

It was late Saturday night when Lee Bryant and his wife decided to go to bed. "We’re getting ready for bed. She’s already in bed," Bryant said.

Bryant was joining his wife to get some sleep Sunday morning around 12:30 a.m. after watching the Florida State University football game.

"Laid down to go to bed and within 30 seconds of laying down, I hear like a whistle noise outside," Bryant remembered. 

That noise was gunfire.

"Within seconds after that, I hear the crackling of our bedroom coming through," Bryant said. "I realized at that point those were gunshots."

Credit: Shannon Clowe

The sound of broken glass turned into his wife screaming.

"The debris from the blind and the glass striking her and I hear her scream," Bryant said. His wife's left cheek was injured, but thankfully she is all right. 

Credit: Catherine Bryant

Gunfire continued and deputies found 16 gunshots in his house on 82nd Street in Riverview. 

Bryant said he and his wife have nothing to do with violence happening in Progress Village. They don't know who is behind the gunfire.

"We have no clue," Bryant said. "It’s going around that it could have been youth."

Outside of his house, he had to board up his windows because of the gunshots. He hopes to never do that again, but Bryant said in the last three weeks he’s heard of five shootings in his Progress Village neighborhood.

He's now looking to Hillsborough County commissioners or the Hillsborough Sheriff’s Office to do something.

"If you see something say something. Well you have a community that is crying out and saying something and I’m saying something," Bryant said. "Please come out.Help, be more vigilant for us."

Credit: Shannon Clowe

Bryant worries this nightmare will end with someone innocent dying.

"It could’ve been anyone and before someone is planning a funeral, please help us," Bryant pleaded.

What would be the ultimate win for this community is knowing when they're sleeping at night, they're safe.

"As leaders, don’t forget about us. We need more of your presence," Bryant stated. 

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said there should be an update on Tuesday about the shooting. An official with the sheriff's office said deputies are monitoring that area. 

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