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Bullet Fired Into Mansfield Apartment Floor Nearly Hits Teen

MANSFIELD (CBS) -- A man in Mansfield called police to his Eddy Street apartment just after 9 p.m. on Monday after he said someone in the building had fired a gun.

"How did he know?" read a Facebook post by Mansfield Police. "He was holding the bullet in his hand."

The gun had been fired from inside the apartment below. It traveled through the shooter's ceiling and into the bedroom of a 15-year-old living upstairs.

The bullet struck a bureau about two feet from the bed where the teen had been doing homework.

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A bullet came through the floor and hit a white bureau in a Mansfield apartment (Courtesy Photo)

Responding officers say they found a loaded 9mm Marlin rifle and 29-year-old Timothy Downs in the apartment downstairs.

Police say Downs was playing with a gun he didn't have a license to carry. He faces seven charges after officers allegedly found a pile of cocaine, and the rifle in his home. He told officers he accidentally shot it through the ceiling.

Timothy Downs
Timothy Downs (WBZ-TV)

The family who lives in the apartment told WBZ-TV they are glad everyone is OK, but it was frightening because they have two younger kids at home as well.

"She found the bullet. It was hot," the teen's father said. "It's the scariest thing that's ever happened to me and probably ever will."

Police said Downs faced drug-related charges back in 2014.

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The bullet hole in a Mansfield apartment floor (Courtesy Photo)

"We posted about it and while many people were thankful for the arrest, there was a lot of 'waste of taxpayer money' talk because, while there were other drugs, the picture showed only the marijuana seized," said the post.

"But this is why we arrest people for distributing and possessing large amounts of 'just weed.' Because it's not 'just weed.' A teenager was nearly shot last night."

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