An 8-year-old boy is expected to be OK physically after he became an innocent victim of a shootout in Bridgeport Sunday night, according to police.

They said the child and his mother are from central New York and were visiting family on the eastside when he got caught in the crossfire. It happened on Orchard Street near Spring Street around 11 p.m.

“Two individuals from two separate cars were firing at each other, and unfortunately an innocent young child was struck,” Chief Roderick Porter told News 12.

Police said the bullet grazed the boy's ear, and he will recover, but had it been an inch closer, things would've been different. News 12 is told he was hit while walking back from a convenience store with family, none of whom was an intended target.

As detectives worked the scene through the overnight hours, Porter visited the victim in the hospital.

“I just wanted to go and check on the well-being of the young man and speak with his mother,” Porter said. “It was traumatic to the young man to have to go through that.”

News of the shooting had spread Monday morning to people who live on and around Orchard Street.

“The neighborhood talks. It was just crazy,” said James Oliver.

The only evidence of the prior police presence was a piece of crime scene tape dangling from a fence and a bullet hole in a building’s first-floor window. Alvin Wray lives in the apartment there and said he’d just laid down to go to sleep when the shooting broke out.

“All of a sudden, I heard, ‘Pop, pop, pop!’ and I thought it was fireworks at first. Until I heard it hit my window. And I kept hearing it. It was at least like 20 shots, had to be,” Wray said.

Shaquan Harden lamented the fact that violence has become the norm in the area.

“There ain’t no talking it out no more like civilized people,” Harden said.

“It’s sad. It’s really sad,” added Oliver.

Police haven't released any suspect descriptions but said detectives are using all their resources to find the people responsible.

“We have some technologies in that area that we are really tapping into,” Porter explained. “Individuals who'd shoot randomly like this need to be off the streets, and we need to bring them to justice. We take this very, very seriously.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Kenneth McKenna 203-581-5245 or Bridgeport Police Tips Line at 203-576-TIPS.

Porter said despite this incident, shootings are down 30% in Bridgeport compared to this time last year.