A frightening middle-of-the-night incident at the home of Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell’s widower could have ended in tragedy after a bullet reportedly ripped through the wall of a nursery and passed directly through the crib where his newborn baby had been sleeping.

Eldridge Toney, who was married to the late daughter of reality television personality Mama June Shannon, said the incident unfolded at approximately 2:45 a.m. Tuesday while his family and children were inside the house.

According to Toney, someone was outside going through vehicles parked near the home when car alarms suddenly activated. He believes the alarms startled the person, who then allegedly opened fire toward the residence.

One of those bullets entered the family’s home.

What happened next left Toney stunned by how narrowly his family escaped serious harm.

The bullet traveled through the wall of the nursery, tore through his infant son’s crib and continued across the room before finally becoming lodged in clothing stored inside a closet.

Despite the terrifying trajectory, nobody inside the house was injured.

Newborn Walker Was Inside the Home

The close call was especially alarming because Toney and his fiancée, Jessie English, had welcomed their first child together only weeks earlier.

Their baby boy, Walker, was inside the house when the gunfire erupted.

Toney said the newborn was sleeping when the bullet came through the nursery.

For any parent, discovering a bullet hole inside a child’s bedroom would be horrifying. In this case, the path of the projectile made the situation even more difficult to comprehend because it passed through the very crib associated with their weeks-old baby.

The bullet did not stop at the crib.

After entering through the nursery wall and crossing the sleeping area, it traveled farther into the home before eventually stopping inside clothing in a closet.

No family member was struck.

The physical evidence left behind, however, offered a stark picture of just how different the outcome could have been.

Toney Says Trouble Began Near the Family’s Vehicles

Toney said the shooting apparently began with suspicious activity outside the residence.

According to his account, someone was going through vehicles belonging to the family around 2:45 in the morning.

The vehicles were parked outside the home when their alarms were triggered.

Toney believes the noise frightened the individual.

Rather than simply fleeing, however, the person allegedly fired toward the house.

That decision transformed what may have begun as an incident involving parked vehicles into a potentially deadly encounter involving an occupied residence.

Children were inside at the time.

Toney later filed a police report describing what happened.

He said Baldwin police moved quickly and were able to catch a suspect following the incident. Toney expressed gratitude for the department’s response.

Still, the arrest did not immediately provide him with an explanation.

Toney said he does not know the individual authorities detained and has no idea why his house would have been fired upon.

That uncertainty has left the family with an unsettling question even after the immediate danger passed: Why did a bullet end up traveling through their newborn’s nursery?

‘One of Us Could Have Been Killed’

For Toney, the strongest emotion afterward was disbelief at how narrowly everyone escaped.

He said it was frightening to consider that someone in the home could easily have been killed.

Toney also expressed the feeling that the family had somehow been protected, saying they must have had “people upstairs looking out for us.”

The comment carries particular emotional significance because Toney has already experienced a major personal loss.

His wife, Anna Cardwell, died in December 2023 after battling stage 4 adrenal cancer.

She was only 29.

Toney and Anna had been together since 2017 and married in March 2023, just months before her death.

Their wedding came during Anna’s cancer battle, creating one of the most emotional chapters in the family’s public story.

Toney remained by her side until her death that December.

Nearly three years later, he is building another chapter of his life with English and their newborn son — only to find himself confronting another moment in which someone close to him narrowly avoided tragedy.

Anna Cardwell’s Memory Remains Closely Connected to Toney’s Story

Anna was well known to viewers who followed Mama June Shannon and the family through their years on reality television.

Often known by her nickname “Chickadee,” she was Mama June’s eldest daughter.

Her health battle became public after she was diagnosed with stage 4 adrenal carcinoma.

Toney and Anna’s relationship had already lasted several years by the time they decided to marry in March 2023.

Their marriage was tragically brief.

Anna died nine months later in December following her fight with cancer.

Toney’s connection to the family therefore extends far beyond television appearances or celebrity headlines. He shared years of his life with Anna and experienced her illness and death from within the family.

His remark about having someone “upstairs” watching over the household naturally carries an emotional undertone given everything he has been through.

The latest incident also happened just as Toney and English were adjusting to life with baby Walker.

What should have been a quiet period centered on caring for a newborn suddenly became the scene of a police investigation.

The Crib Became the Most Disturbing Detail

Of all the details surrounding the shooting, the bullet’s path through the nursery stands out.

A home can often feel like the safest place for a child, especially a newborn whose world is largely limited to sleeping, feeding and being cared for by family.

The idea that a projectile could enter that space without warning emphasizes how little control the people inside had over what was happening outside.

The family was not described as participating in any confrontation.

Toney said someone appeared to be going through vehicles before car alarms sounded.

Seconds later, according to his account, shots were directed toward the house.

There was no opportunity for the sleeping children to understand or react.

The fact that nobody was hurt came down to an extraordinarily fortunate sequence of circumstances.

The bullet passed through the nursery.

It crossed the crib.

It continued into the closet.

And somehow, no person stood in its path.

Police Response Brings Some Relief but Leaves Questions

Toney praised Baldwin police for responding quickly and apprehending a suspect.

That development provided at least some immediate reassurance after a night that could have ended very differently.

But the arrest has not answered everything for the family.

Toney said he does not recognize the person and does not understand why the home would have been targeted.

Whether the gunfire was specifically aimed at the family or was connected to the alleged activity around the vehicles remained unclear from his account.

What the family does know is what they discovered inside the nursery afterward.

The damage provided a visible reminder of how close their newborn came to danger.

Only weeks after celebrating Walker’s arrival, Toney and English were instead examining a bullet path through the room where their baby slept.

For Toney, who has already endured the death of his wife Anna, the episode was another sobering reminder of how suddenly ordinary life can change.

This time, however, the ending was different.

Everyone inside survived unharmed.

A bullet crossed a newborn’s crib in the middle of the night, yet the child and the rest of the family escaped without injury — a close call Toney clearly believes could have turned into another devastating loss.