Innocent bystander, father of five, shot in Fort Worth

A Fort Worth father is recovering after being caught in the middle of gunfire on Friday afternoon.

Fort Worth Police said they were dispatched to an apartment complex in Northwest Fort Worth just before 4:30 p.m. on Friday after a call that a man had been shot.

Police said during their investigation, they found that two people had started shooting at each other, and one of the bullets hit an innocent bystander.

The victim, they said, was taken to a local hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

Officers initially said they had one suspect in custody.

"After consulting with our robbery detective assigned to this case, there is no suspect(s) in custody, and this is still an ongoing investigation," they wrote to NBC 5 on Saturday evening.

The victim's wife, who didn't want to share her name or show her face, said she's now afraid.

“I have been very scared to where I’ve told... neighbors if I could stay with them more," she said. “It’s like you’re not going to feel protected, [anymore], after that.”

She said she was outside with four of her kids when two people started shooting at each other.

“As that was happening, I ran inside and just hid with my kids," she said.

When the gunfire stopped, she went back outside.

“I see my husband on the floor. And he... he had got hit," she recalled. “I didn’t even know what to think... I just started crying."

The mother said her husband didn't know she was already hiding with four of their kids-- he and a fifth child had gone outside to check on her after hearing the shots.

"I’m still scared, you know, that anything else can happen," she said.

The woman said she had a message for those who fired their guns with people-- particularly children, around.

"The first thing the kids thought, ‘Okay, we have to run.’ Like, kids don’t have to be doing any of that... running for their safety, running for their lives," she said.

She said one of those children could have become a victim, too.

“It’s scary; it’s like, your kids can’t even go play outside or enjoy themselves because you just never know what can happen," she said.

The experience was especially difficult for her seven-year-old son, who was with his dad on Friday afternoon.

"He just keeps telling me and telling me exactly what happened: He saw the bullet hit his dad, and how he fell on the floor," said the mother as she cried. “My son has to live with that in his head for the rest of his life. And that’s not something he had to see or go through.”