People Across the Country Struck by Celebratory Gunfire on New Year’s Day

Three people are killed in Florida when people fire guns to celebrate the New Year.

In Miami, ten-year-old Yanelis Munuguia was watching fireworks with her family in the parking lot of their apartment when she was struck in the head by a stray bullet. She was rushed to a trauma center where she died. She had just turned ten the day after Christmas.

In Kissimmee, 56 year-old Carmen Rosa Neir Ochoa was on her back patio watching fireworks when she was fatally shot. She had dinner with her family earlier that evening. Shortly after bringing her back home, the family got a call about the shooting. “She didn’t do anything to anyone. She was a hard-working mother,” a relative said. 

And in Fort Lauderdale, 50-year-old Angel Nunes was celebrating the start of the New Year on the pool deck of his boyfriend’s home, when he was fatally struck by a stray bullet. 

And numerous people are injured by stray bullets from celebratory gunfire, including three in Texas.

Just after midnight in San Antonio, Texas, a stray bullet hit 40-year-old Jorge Valdez-Meza in the elbow while he was sitting on his front porch watching fireworks with his wife. His wife was uninjured and he was taken to the hospital, but hopes that others exercise caution when celebrating “…[Y]ou think you’re just setting off a couple of shots to ring in the new year. It can hurt other people.”

A 32-year-old woman in Houston, Texas, was shot in the leg by a stray bullet just after midnight. She is expected to survive.

In Laredo, Texas, a 33-year-old man was shooting off his 9mm handgun in celebration of the new year, when it discharged into the ground hitting him in the stomach with a bullet fragment. The fragment was removed at the hospital. Police are investigating.

In Memphis, Tennessee, a 16-year-old boy was shot in the ankle when a stray bullet came through the walls of his home just a little after midnight. Neighbors were celebrating with fireworks and firing guns, and one of them said he heard gunfire that lasted almost 20 minutes. 

Around midnight in Chester, Pennsylvania, a 16-year-old girl was in her room playing a video game when she was struck in the back by a stray bullet. She is recovering at the hospital after surgery.

And a man in Birmingham, Alabama was struck by a bullet while he was asleep in bed. Officials believe that celebratory gunfire is the likely cause of the shooting. 

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