ST. MARTINVILLE, La. (KLFY) — As preschoolers sat down for lunch at the St. Martinville Head Start Center, a stray bullet from a nearby shooting came hurling through the cafeteria wall and towards a four-year-old boy.

The mother of the toddler told News Ten her son was holding a plate of food in his hands and luckily, the bullet hit the plate, and not her son.

She says her son was rushed to the hospital where ‘miraculously,’ the only injuries he suffered were scratches on his eyes from the plate shattering in his hands.

The school was placed on lock down as police searched for the shooters.

Officials say the gunfire came from a shooting happening right down the road., involving shooters in two separate cars who were shooting at one another.

“It’s ridiculous for the young folks to be coming here and shooting as if they’re playing a game. This is not a game,” Perry Marie said, who lives nearby the school.

Marie’s daughter, a teacher at the school, told her mother it was around noon when five or six gunshots rang out outside and became a life-or-death situation for the preschoolers inside.

“Just like when that bullet hit the school, that little boy or little girl could have gotten hit with that bullet. Thank god it hit the plate,” Marie said. “You never know where a bullet is going to go. It travels. You can shoot from right here and hit the next block. That’s what they’re not understanding. What’s wrong with these kids now?”

St. Martinville police are asking anyone with information about the shooting or the shooters to contact them.