A heated domestic dispute in Tuscaloosa County earlier this week nearly ended in tragedy when a bullet struck a vehicle with twin children in the backseat, according to court documents filed Thursday.

According to two depositions obtained by the Thread, the trouble began around 5 p.m. Tuesday, when 30-year-old Demarco Tyrell Bandy showed up uninvited to a home on Nicholas Drive in McCalla.

The mother of his 7-year-old twins lives in the home, police said, and Bandy does not. He was allegedly armed with a handgun when he arrived.

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The victim is now engaged to another woman, Vernecia Lashaun Terry, who was at the residence and tried to block Bandy from entering, but he allegedly shoved her out of the doorway and the two began fighting.

Terry "sustained an injury to the inner lip while Bandy was physically on top of her," investigators said, but she was ultimately able to break away and run to her fiancee's car, where they kept their own gun.

The man, Bandy, "again fought her to prevent her from getting her firearm," before "disengaging in his fistfight" and getting back in his sedan, where his twin children were in the backseat.

He started to leave the property, but "when Bandy was about 10 yards away Terry began firing a pistol at his vehicle as it drove away from her," investigators say.

The Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit later found that one of her bullets struck the driver-side rear door of his car -- where the children were sitting.

Bandy reportedly stopped the car and returned fire with his own gun, firing three or four shots from 20 yards away before finally leaving the area.

No one was injured by the gunfire. Investigators were called to the scene and reviewed evidence including some video shot by a witness and arrested both Bandy and Terry.

Bandy, the man and allegedly the original aggressor, was charged with first-degree burglary for forcing his way into the house and injuring Terry during their first fistfight.

Terry, the woman now engaged to the mother of Bandy's children, was charged with one count of discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle.

Both charges are felonies, and both suspects were placed in the Tuscaloosa County Jail, where Bandy's bond was set at $60,000 and Terry's was set at $30,000.

Terry was no longer listed as an inmate Friday, which may indicate she has been released on bail.

Top Stories from the Tuscaloosa Thread (2/13 - 2/20)

14 of the Top Stories published by the Tuscaloosa Thread during the week of February 13th, 2023.