BATON ROUGE — With the Fourth of July approaching, police and residents are warning people not to fire guns into the air during celebrations.

Baton Rouge police say anyone who does could face charges. They have responded to numerous reports of guns being fired into the air and into the ground during past celebrations.

Exclusive security video from last New Year's Eve shows a group of people walking around outside a home with large objects in their hands. At the end of the video, it appears the group begins firing guns.

The next morning, the homeowner found bullets and shell casings in her yard and on her porch. Two bullets also appeared to pierce the exterior wall of her home, prompting her to file a police report.

As this Fourth of July draws near, she reports hearing that popping noise again and worries the celebration will leave more than a few shell casings and bullet holes.

A company called SoundThinking has developed software to locate outdoor gunfire and help police departments nationwide track down offenders. SoundThinking reports that last Independence Day, it tracked about 2,000 live gunfire incidents nationwide.

"It's illegal to shoot fireworks and guns within the city and parish," said BRPD PIO L'Jean McKneely.

Gun violence activist Carolyn Williams says she knows the difference between fireworks and gunshots and worries about what can happen with the latter. She recently moved back to Baton Rouge.

"It was mind-blowing, all the guns that I heard going off," Williams said.

She wants police to strictly monitor the streets this holiday to reduce the number of random gunfire celebrations in neighborhoods.

"You won't really understand the effects of it until they knock at your door, until it's one of your family members that's been killed or shot accidentally by a bullet," Williams said.