Nine-year-old Ronnie MacTear was washing a drinking glass in his kitchen when a stray bullet came through a window, hitting him in the cheek and knocking out several of his teeth.
"I heard a bunch of gunshots," says witness Sheldon Bridges. "Then the boy turned around, and he was just bleeding all out of his face."
Paramedics rushed Ronnie to the hospital. They told family members the injury wasn't life threatening. The others inside the home say it could have been much worse.
"If it was someone taller, they would have been dead," says Margaret Tillman, Ronnie's aunt, "Because it would have been in their chest, because it was in his left cheek, and he's only like this high. So, if it would have been somebody taller, they probably would have been dead."
The victim's family members don't believe the shots were intended for them. While the third-grader won't be going to class today, his family and friends are just thankful that he's still alive.
Investigators have not yet arrested any suspects in connection with the shooting.
• Credits
Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.