DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) – A 13-year-old Durham girl is recovering after she was struck by a bullet that flew in her home about 4 a.m. on Wednesday in the 2700 block of Weldon Terrace.

The girl was sleeping in her bed when everyone in her house woke up to a loud noise.

“I thought it was a dream, and then I saw blood in my hand,” said the victim, who CBS 17 is not identifying.

A bullet flew in through the family’s front door, traveled through the house, and went through the girl’s bedroom wall. It went through the wall just inches above her head as she slept in her bed.

“So I look and I see like a hole,” the girl said.

The bullet struck her in the thigh, but she didn’t realize she had been shot at first.

“They (her parents) came in the room and my dad said I was shot,” the girl said.

The girl was rushed to the hospital, but thankfully her injuries were minor and she was back home by Wednesday afternoon. The girl’s mother, Melody McLaurin, is calling for police to pick up their efforts when investigating drive-by shootings.

“We could’ve actually found my daughter dead this morning instead of shot. That’s what baffles us,” McLaurin said.

While there was a police presence on Weldon Terrace on Wednesday morning as forensics was on scene collecting evidence, just 14 hours earlier a Durham police K-9 was shot while in the line of duty. There was a much larger response from multiple law enforcement agencies in the area.

Authorities were out in full force as multiple streets were blocked off where officers searched for the suspect who shot the dog. Officers searched on the ground and in the air for the suspect, and police were able to catch him in just a few hours.

The suspect who shot the K-9, 21-year-old Trey Christie, was wanted for multiple larcenies in the downtown Durham area, but nothing prior appeared to be violent.

McLaurin called on police to put more of an effort toward solving shootings like the one where her daughter could have been killed.

“They need to step it up. They need to do better,” McLaurin said. “I know it’s a dog, but these are children. These are lives. These are kids and these are babies.”

Durham police made multiple arrests in different shootings over the last year.

CBS 17 reached out to police to get an update on what their clearance rate is for shooting incidents, but hasn’t yet heard back.

As of January, almost 90 percent of the shooting incidents in Durham in 2020 were unsolved.

CBS 17 reached out to find out more information about the suspect involved in Wednesday’s drive-by shooting and what might have caused the shooting but hasn’t heard back.

Durham police sent a statement to CBS 17 on Thursday morning addressing the disparity in the police response between the two shootings:

The safety of the entire Durham community is our main priority. The suspect, after shooting the police canine, fled and was hiding in a residential neighborhood. He was armed and threat to all of the residents in the nearby homes. Durham Police Officers, along with other local and state agencies, responded in a joint effort to apprehend the suspect and keep our community safe. The shooting of the 13 year old was an act of senseless violence and our hearts go out to her and her family along with hopes for a speedy recovery. We are actively investigating that incident and we ask that anyone who has information please contact Durham CrimeStoppers at 919 683-1200.”