Monica Hernandez / Eyewitness News
NEW ORLEANS-- It's been a bloody week in New Orleans. Twelve days into the year, police said there have been 12 murders.
Four people were shot to death Thursday alone.
Since Wednesday, nearly a dozen have been wounded in multiple shootings across the city.
You can still see the bullet holes in Malissa Johnson's home on Elysian Fields Avenue. Four people were shot in the 2100 block Wednesday night, including Johnson' 12-year-old daughter.
"All I heard was 'pow pow pow,' and I was like, 'Please don't let that be my child, please don't let that be my child,'" said Johnson through tears. "And it was my child. There was a whole lot that was going through my head."
Police said the 12-year-old was sitting on her front porch when three gunmen fired multiple shots, striking two women, a man and Johnson's daughter.
The 12-year-old was hit six times in the legs.
"Really I don't think there's no safe place in New Orleans anymore," said Katherine Beckham, the 12-year-old's grandmother. "It's just too much of senseless killing."
Johnson's daughter may have survived, but her wounds won't soon heal.
"We're just praying that she can use her legs again and it won't be too bad, but she said she won't wear shorts anymore because of the big holes that they left in her legs," said Beckham.
All of this comes on the heels of what Mayor Mitch Landrieu called "the most spectacular 10 days the city has had," with over 300,000 visitors in town for major sporting events and New Year's Eve.
Landrieu said in a press conference Wednesday there is a marked difference between New Orleans' murder rate and its rate of violent crime.
"We do better than any city in America for how safe the city is for people that come in and visit. Every now and then you will have the convergence of the two which we saw on Halloween night. I think the public can separate the two, and I think we can continue to do that as well," Landrieu said on Wednesday.
But for a family changed by violence those words give little consolation.
"I wish I didn't come back, I wish I didn't come back to New Orleans, I really do, I really wish that I hadn't come back," said Beckham, who moved to Jackson, Miss., after Katrina.
Police captured one of three suspected gunman after the shooting Wednesday on Elysian Fields. The suspect is only 16 years old.
If you have any information that could help police find the other two, call Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111.
