LAWRENCE, Ind. (WISH) — Robert Edwards, a residential maintenance technician, is friendly with most of the tenants at Maison Gardens Apartment Homes.

He shook his head sadly as he wondered about an upstairs tenant in building 8814.

Neighbors didn’t know if she would come home, they told News 8.

The woman was shot in the stomach early Friday morning after interrupting a burglary attempt at the complex, near 42nd Street and Post Road, officials said.

She remained hospitalized in serious condition Friday night.

The woman “heard a noise” around 3 a.m. and went to check, startling two male suspects attempting to break into an apartment, according to Lawrence police.

“As the suspects fled, one of them fired a shot from outside the apartment, striking the resident in the abdomen,” said Gary Woodruff, deputy chief of police.

Edwards noted the ironic timing of the incident. Several hours before the shooting, community members had gathered at the apartment complex for a crime prevention forum.

“People feel like they have to carry guns out here,” Edwards told News 8. “It shouldn’t be that way… This isn’t a movie. This is real life.”

Dozens of children live at Maison Gardens, he added.

A school bus turned into the complex and drove past building 8814 moments after a News 8 crew arrived Friday afternoon.

The bus’s tires crushed shards of broken glass on the ground. They were likely from the shooting victim’s shattered window, neighbors said.

Children tossed their backpacks aside and ran to a playground in the center of the apartment complex, around the corner from the crime scene.

Edwards, whose family lives nearby, refuses to let his children play there.

“I got a 2-year-old son,” he told News 8. “We have to do better as people.”

Anybody with information about the attempted burglary and shooting is urged to call Crime Stoppers at (317) 262-TIPS.