A man who was celebrating New Year's was hit with a bullet from what authorities believe may have been a celebratory gunshot in northwest Miami early Tuesday.
The incident happened just after midnight during a party at a home in the 2400 block of Northwest 32nd Street when neighbors said they heard a gunshot amid the noise from fireworks.
"Fireworks and then the shot after that, then the cops came," neighbor Rudy Aponte said.
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"One of the guests in the house started to complain that there was some blood in his shirt so we quickly just ran to see what was going and we saw the hole," homeowner Randy Ruiz said. "He had a hole in his left arm, it apparently looked like a bullet hole."
Fire Rescue workers responded and treated the victim, who hasn't been identified, on the scene after he decided not to be transported to the hospital.
"Luckily this guy did not sustain a very serious injury because it was very close to his head, in the shoulder area where it landed," Miami Fire Rescue spokesman Lt. Ignatius Carroll said. "This could've been a lot worse than it really was."
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"It could've been anyone, it could've been a young kid that was there that was surrounding him but thank God it was that," Ruiz said. "They give you a warning, don't shoot guns in the air or take the gun for what? You already have so many noises with the firecrackers, what do you need noises with the gun for?"
"People don't realize that you could become a victim of that type of celebration you are doing," Carroll said.
The homeowner said police searched for that bullet but didn't recover it. They are still investigating where it came from.
