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Dallas / Fort Worth Local News

Dallas Woman Struck By New Year's Eve Gunfire

Reporting
Bud Gillett

DALLAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―

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Police had warned people not to fire guns in the air to celebrate the New Year. While numbers for Dallas aren't in, Fort Worth police responded to 257 random gunfire calls overnight.

Two North Texas women are still shaken about what happened just minutes into 2009. They narrowly missed a falling bullet, fired to celebrate the New Year.

Latrina Woods and Victoria Obamehinti had just left a club and were stopped at a red light in Deep Ellum when, at midnight, someone chose to ring in the New Year with gunfire.

"I was just so scared. I was like, 'what if I'm shot and just can't feel it 'cause I'm so panicky'," Obamehinti told CBS 11 News.

Obamehinti said she just couldn't believe what had happened. "And it like grazed my friend. It hit here right here [pointing to her shoulder]. And the bullet was just lying in the seat. It was all hot and everything."

Woods was grazed on the chest and shoulder when a falling bullet pierced the windshield of the car. Woods told CBS 11 News that she didn't realize the bullet struck her until her shoulder started to swell.

Obamehinti said at midnight there were sounds of gunshots everywhere.

Woods was not seriously hurt and officers let her keep the bullet as a reminder of how people can get seriously hurt from celebratory gunfire.

After the bullet hit the car the women said they made their way to a nearby bar until the shooting died down. The awfulness of the situation hit home when they went home.

"I was scared too because I was worried about my sister, to see if she was hurt or anything," Victoria's sister, Valencia Allen, explained.

But things weren't much better when the women got home. The sound of gunfire could be heard in the neighborhood just a few blocks away.

One young neighbor decided it was wise to celebrate indoors. "In this area, around about 11:40 until about 1:45, it ain't nothing but crazy people out here," said Darren Mollett.

Obamehinti said she's heard the warnings, too. "Wherever you're at on New Year's be in a 12 o'clock… and now I see why. I should've listened."

Discharging a firearm, in any big Texas city, is a class a misdemeanor. If someone is hurt by the gunfire the charge could be bumped up to a felony, depending on the depth of the injury.