HARTFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A woman is recovering at home Sunday after getting hit by a stray bullet while at a birthday party Saturday night.
Residents at the 71000 block of 62nd Street in Hartford Township say that bullet – which was shot during target practice at a site to the north of the homes and traveled more than a mile before hitting the woman, according to police – narrowly missed a group of children collecting candy from a pinata at the birthday party.
The woman, a photographer at the party, was struck in the left arm by the bullet – after the bullet passed through a can of soda she was about to drink.
She’s been treated and released from Lakeland Community Hospital in Watervliet.
Alfredo Lara lives in the neighborhood with his wife and infant daughter. He was one of about 30 people at the party on Saturday. He says no one ever heard the shots being fired because of the music playing at the party.
“She was all calm, just touching her arm,” Lara says. “Then she walked over there. That’s when she noticed it. She noticed the blood.”
A totally unexpected scene during a birthday celebration for a three-year-old neighbor.
“Nobody thought about a bullet. We thought someone maybe hit her or something and she fell or something until one of the guys saw the bullet hole.”
Deputies tracked down the area where the bullet was fired from and located the probable shooter in St. Joseph. The shooter’s high-powered rifle has been seized and is being investigated.
Meanwhile, Lara and the neighborhood are just thankful a birthday celebration didn’t turn tragic.
“A kid’s head was maybe right here,” Lara says, pointing out a height chest-high on his body. “It could have hit one of the kids in the head. Right in the forehead.”
“People gotta be more careful about where they point the gun at.”
