'Guns are not toys:' Woman struck by bullet while watching Raleigh fireworks
A woman was sitting in a backyard in Raleigh when she was hit by a bullet falling from the sky.
Raleigh police, who got the call shortly before 10 p.m. on July 4, said celebratory gunfire is to blame.
Alexandria Christie, 22, of Clayton, was watching fireworks outside a home on Scofield Drive when someone shot a gun into the air several blocks away. The bullet fell and hit her in the back. The bullet did not penetrate her skin, but it did leave a bruise.
She said she feels fortunate to be okay and is glad the bullet hit her and not a child or animal. Christie says she was raised around guns and understands how to responsibly use one.
"Guns are not toys," she said. "I could have been killed."
Her friend Madison Clore, was sitting right next to her when she was struck.
"We had a blanket out, just sitting in the backyard, watching the fireworks," he said. "She was sitting directly next to me. She essentially had the breath knocked out of her."
After she was struck, Christie began searching the grass with her flashlight, thinking maybe she'd been hit by a stray piece of firework.
"Absolutely insane," she said. "I'm mindblown, honestly."
Christie said she's sore, with pain in her arm and near her shoulder.
"The fact that my life could’ve been taken away from me at 22 years old because someone wants to play with a gun, it’s just scary to me," she said.
Police said they have no way of knowing exactly where the bullet came from.
"For my friend specifically, it was an eye-opening moment. That bullet could have landed anywhere. It could have been fatal," Clore said. "Makes you feel a little bit more human when things like that happen."
Celebratory gunfire has been reported throughout the years on holidays that involve heavy fireworks. Last year, a Durham woman was struck and killed when a bullet fell from the sky.
Ahead of this year's Fourth of July celebrations, her family pleaded with the community to put their guns down.
