ALTON, Ill. – People ducked for cover in an Alton neighborhood after gunfire broke out while a school bus dropped a student off on Central Avenue.

“I just busted out the door. It wasn’t a thought at that point. It was just (a) reaction,” Jeff Sherwood, a resident of Alton, said.

Sherwood’s son was out for a run Wednesday night when the gunshots started around 6:45 p.m. Sherwood, also a veteran, ran out his front door to help get his son back inside.

“I’m a father. I’m a protector and I don’t mess around with this sort of stuff,” he said. 

Police credit the bus driver for acting swiftly and driving to safety. Neither the bus nor anyone else sustained any injuries. 

However, an elderly woman’s home was hit, and she showed FOX 2 multiple bullet holes in her bedroom wall.

“This is totally unacceptable; very much frustrating. We’re not going to continue to tolerate it,” said Alton Alderwoman Rosetta Brown. 

Brown said it is time to put a stop to the violence that has plagued this stretch of Central Avenue lately. She said there was another shooting there just a few days ago. 

“Can you imagine an 80-year-old woman having to dive on the floor and having to grab her granddaughter and be a shield? Eighty-year-old woman. She’s been there for almost 40 years. She shouldn’t live in fear,” Brown said. 

FOX 2 found three different homes, all with gunshots in them. 

Sherwood and Alderwoman Brown both worry someone will eventually get killed. 

“There were two people who could’ve gotten killed yesterday. And for what? I want people to talk and put an end to it,” Sherwood said. 

Police believe the student was a target and that the shooting was not a random act of violence. 

Officials are asking residents to check their home security cameras. Potential information can be uploaded directly to the Alton Police Department.