‘It was so unexpected;’ 18-year-old says bullet tore through car, hit her leg on Fourth of July

“It was so unexpected, the impact of it, I thought it was a big rock,” she said. — An 18-year-old woman survived an episode of dangerous celebratory gunfire in Dayton and is sharing her story.

News Center 7′s Mike Campbell spoke with her about what happened and how this could have been much worse.

This incident of what appears to be celebratory gunfire took place the on of July 4th, Monday night.

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The teen says she was riding in a car with her older sister and two friends when a bullet simply dropped from the sky.

“It was so unexpected, the impact of it, I thought it was a big rock,” said Brooklyn Piseno. “All I remember is it hurt really bad, the burning feeling.”

The bullet left two sharp marks on Piseno’s leg. They pulled over at a gas station so the driver could check the car over and Piseno’s sister could check her out.

“It was traumatizing, cant imagine how my sister feels,” said Payton Wagner, Piseno’s sister. “We were looking around the car and she said, ‘oh, there it is.’”

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The women showed the bullet they discovered on the floorboard of the backseat. They are convinced this was someone carelessly firing their gun in a holiday celebration.

“100% don’t doubt that at all,” Wagner said.

Dayton isn’t the only place that experiences trouble with so-called celebratory gunfire.

Our sister station in Jacksonville Florida documented a man that was grazed in the head by a falling bullet.

Safety experts said many people believe if they fire straight up the bullet comes straight down.

“Once up in the atmosphere and the wind takes over, you don’t know where its coming down or where it is going,” said Ken Jefferson, safety expert.

Piseno said it only hurt when she walks and she’s trying to keep people far away from bumping into her leg.

Her sister believes they had a guardian angel on Independence Night.

“I cried, I could have lost my sister,” Wagner said. “One could be in the hospital, one could be shot in the head. It could have been someone’s child, it needs to stop.”

Police say this type of celebratory gunfire endangers everyone that is on the road or people just walking on a sidewalk or sitting in their backyard.

Police say it is a criminal charge, maybe even a felony for firing inside city limits.

Dayton police could not immediately say how many neighborhood complaints and shotspotter reports they received about celebratory gunfire over the holiday weekend.

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