Posted on 01/01/2010 4:46:43 PM PST by rawhide
A 4-year-old boy attending a New Year's Eve church service with his family was killed when a stray bullet came through the roof, hitting him in the head.
The boy, Marquel Peters, was sitting beside his mother in the sanctuary during an intermission, said Lloyd Phipps, senior pastor at the Church of God of Prophecy near Decatur.
About 350 people were gathered in the DeKalb County church on Covington Drive, waiting for a concert to begin at 12:30 a.m. Friday, Phipps said.
"We heard a loud pop, which we now assume was when the bullet came through the roof," Phipps said.
The child, who had been playing a video game moments before the incident, fell to the floor.
"He appeared to be unconscious at first, and then he started crying," Phipps said.
Phipps said the church members prayed for the child, and continued with the planned concert, believing the child would survive his injury.
The child was rushed to a hospital, where he later died, according to Officer Jason Gagnon with DeKalb police.
The pastor and the parishioners where still in the church when they learned of the child's death about 3:30 a.m., Phipps said. He said during the concert, the boy's family kept him updated on the child's condition, which he believed was improving.
Investigators returned to the church later Friday, where they discovered the point of entry for the bullet: in the roof of the church. Phipps said police believe someone fired a celebratory shot into the air, and it went through the roof on its way down.
"It's one of those things that you just cannot make any sense out of," Phipps said. "This lady took her kid to church, which is the right thing to do. And her son got killed because of someone’s irresponsible behavior."
(Excerpt) Read more at ajc.com ...
Are you thinking the bullet was shot from an airplane?
You don’t know much about ballistics. All projectiles start slowing down the instant they leave the gun barrel. There is substantial loss of velocity in only 100 yards for all handgun rounds. A 48 degree trajectory is maximum range and that is quite a bit further than 100 yards even for a handgun round. more like a thousand yards, with peak altitude occuring about 600 yards down range and about 600 yards up.
Actually, they are pretty good at the experimental parts of their program, they just have trouble with the analysis, setup, and conclusions.
They fired bullets straight up in the air, and showed how they landed on the ground, and how little they dug into the dirt.
Instead of selling fireworks for July 4th, when it is so dry in many parts of the country that raging fires are the result, why don’t all the groups that use fireworks sales for their funding sell the stuff for New Years celebrations? It would have the potential of stopping things like this from happening.
I can buy your theory. That’s the only thing that makes sense.
I remember a woman being saved from grave injury from a falling bullet a number of years ago. There was a thread posted here describing how the bullet had hit her bra strap and been slowed by it.
Can’t remember the details, but I think she and her family had gathered outside to watch fireworks, or something.
Firefights? what’s that got to do with anything? Yeah, they shoot probably 20-30 degrees off plumb, I would imagine. What of it?
This is just ‘too far fetched’ to believe. I’m sorry, I don’t care who is reporting on it....there are just some stories that do not pass the ‘critical/logical’ thinking stage.
That was a heavy round (heavy) or rifle round (sectional density). Some people have no common sense or consideration of possible consequences (criminal types).
Watched the movie “The Patriot” last week. Celebratory gun fire seems such a huge part of American tradition in the founding generation. I find nothing wrong with it but people should do it without hurting other folks.
Reminds me of the story of some village where an earthquake hit so the townspeople rushed to the village church for protection, then the roof of the church collapsed and killed all of them. While it’s not pleasant, all you can do is realize that God must have wanted it to happen and His plans are bigger than ours. Perhaps some great thing will come of this. I do feel for the family, though.
A slug, a heavy round (e.g., 45-70) or a rifle round lined up perpendicular to the roof would do it. Something like a heavy 45-70 will kill large game while falling at a steep angle. A falling, long small bore can kill people, if it’s not tumbling and sideways.
Presumably the surgeon found a bullet embedded in his skull. How do you think it got there?
You don’t live in an Hispanic neighborhood, do you? The fireworks would only be in addition to, not instead of shooting of guns into the air by very intoxicated individuals. It might be prevalent in other ethnic neighborhoods than Hispanic, but none of the ones I lived in except Hispanic had the problem.
A falling bullet won't kill you any more than a penny dropped from a great height. But a bullet still on its ballistic trajectory, still spinning, pointing forwards, is potentially deadly until it hits the ground.
Such deaths are very common in the Middle East. IIRC, a large number of people were killed after our liberation of Kuwait, just because of the celebratory gunfire. People tend to die at weddings over there too for the same reason.
A falling bullet with enough velocity to penetrate the roof with a loud pop and then kill the child???? I’m not buying it either. Mythbusters covered this in an episode.
A wonder of physics!
Lets celebrate by throwing knives straight up and shooting arrows into the air!
YeeHaw!
I saw the same show, you're right. It's impossible. You could get a big knot and maybe even a fractured skull, but NO WAY does it penetrate the skull.
There has to be more to the story than the idiot reporter either included, or knows.
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