Several New Year's Eve revelers across the country shot bystanders -- and in some cases themselves -- while ringing in 2019 with celebratory gunfire.
In Oakland, a 6-year-old girl was hit in the head with a stray bullet fired into the air near her home, ABC News reported. The girl was playing in the backyard when an unknown person in the area fired a celebratory shot just before 2 a.m.
The girl was taken to a local hospital and then to UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland, where she remains in stable condition, according to ABC.
In Kansas City, Kansas, a man accidentally shot himself in the stomach while handling his .22-caliber handgun inside his house, the Kansas City Star reported.
Police say the man had intended to take the pistol outside at midnight to shoot into the air but shot himself when he set the loaded pistol on the couch. The man is expected to recover from the gunshot.
In a similar incident, a 33-year-old Cleveland-area man shot himself in the leg while attempting to holster his 9mm pistol, the local CBS News affiliate reported. The man had been standing in an open field shooting the gun into the air just after midnight, police said.
Police departments regularly warn people not to celebrate the New Year with gunfire, but it remains a common practice in some circles. The Saginaw Police Department in Michigan posted a message to Facebook reminding residents of how dangerous even shots fired straight into the air can be.
"Celebratory gunfire is illegal and highly dangerous," the department warned, according to the Detroit Free Press. "Bullets fired into the air return to the earth at up to 300 feet per second."
"Also, a bullet fired into the air can land anywhere in a 2-mile radius," the message added.
Despite that warning and similar notices elsewhere, celebratory gunfire resulted in multiple injuries across the country in the first few hours of the new year. In Raleigh, North Carolina, a 22-year-old woman was at a downtown celebration when she was hit in the chest by a stray bullet, according to the Raleigh News & Observer. The wound was non-life threatening.
In Indianapolis, a 27-year-old woman was hit in the stomach by a bullet that smashed through her kitchen window just seconds after midnight. The woman, who was celebrating with her fiance and two children when she was shot, had surgery and is expected to survive, according to FOX59 News.
Indianapolis Police believe the shot came from celebratory gunfire nearby, but they have not identified a suspected shooter.
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