Survivor of celebratory gunfire urges people not to shoot off guns for Fourth of July

A recent UNC-Chapel Hill graduate who was hit by celebratory gunfire on New Year's Eve says she hopes people don't fire guns in the air Thursday night to celebrate Independence Day.

Posted 8:28 p.m. Jul 4, 2019 — Updated 10:19 p.m. Jul 4, 2019

Aaron Thomas

, WRAL reporter

RALEIGH, N.C. — A recent University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill graduate who was hit by celebratory gunfire on New Year's Eve says she hopes people don't fire guns in the air Thursday night to celebrate Independence Day.

Kaitlyn Kong was at First Night Raleigh downtown celebrating the new year with her roommate, Allyson Cole. They had just watched the Acorn Drop and were listening to a band when Kong was shot in the chest.

Police said the two women were near the intersection of Fayetteville and Davie streets when revelers fired guns in the air at 12:05 a.m. to celebrate the new year during a fireworks display.

The bullet nicked one of Kong's lungs, perforated her diaphragm, went through her stomach and ended up next to her hip, requiring extensive surgery and a prolonged recovery.

"I think, through surgery, I kind of had faith that I wouldn’t die because I just knew that I had a lot more things to do in the future," she said Thursday.

"The first month was kind of hard because I couldn't walk as far or as long as I normally could, so I kind of had to make sure I planned my activities accordingly," she said of her final semester at UNC-Chapel Hill, which involved an internship and work at a sustainability field site.

Six months later, police still haven't made an arrest in the case. Gun experts say the bullet could have come from anywhere – a window, a balcony, a roof, even from several streets away.

"I'm not as frustrated as I am just hopeful that they won't do it again," Kong said. "I hope that anybody out there who’s done this before locally and has seen the news and is keeping in touch might think about it again before they do it."

She said she wants to live her life normally, noting that, since the shooting, she's been to big events with large crowds. But she planned to hang out with her friends Thursday night to celebrate the Fourth of July.

Kong said she hopes the only pops and bangs during the holiday come from fireworks in the sky, not celebratory gunfire.

"I think it should be common sense that you shouldn't fire into the air. The bullet is going to have to come down somewhere, and you might seriously injure someone," she said. "Hopefully by speaking up, there will be a lesser chance of it happening again."

Raleigh prohibits anyone from discharging a firearm within the city, except under very limited circumstances. Penalties for doing so come along with a fine of $500.

Police are using social media to encourage people not to fire off celebratory gunshots.

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