YOUNGSTOWN — A dozen children belonging to two women were playing outside at a home on South Avenue on Monday night when gunfire hit the home just after a man stopped to ask if one of the women was inside the house.

Police were called to her house at 7:51 p.m., and they found 12 children from age 1 to 15 inside along with two women. No one was injured.

One of the women said her friend came over with her five kids, and all of the kids were in the yard playing when a man pulled into the parking lot near her home in a Kia asking the children if their mother was in the house and the children telling him she was, a Youngstown police report states.

The woman went inside to tell the other woman what was said. Within moments, she heard gunfire and objects hitting her home, the report states. The women retrieved their children and brought them inside.

Officers spoke to the children, and they confirmed the story about the man asking where their mother was. They said the man told them he would “be right back.”

One of the women said she has an active restraining order against the man, but he continues to try to contact her and makes threats. She said she is afraid for her life.

Officers recovered three spent bullet shell casings in the street in front of the home. A car in the parking lot was hit by bullets two times, the report states. The home had bullet damage to the front door and to an outside bedroom wall where the bullets had gotten stuck between walls.