Celebratory gunfire on New Year’s sends bullets into Central Florida homes

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The family woke up to two holes in their lanai screen and one hole in the glass window of their bedroom. All three holes were from two bullets.

The homeowners believe the shooting happened sometime after midnight. They believe the shooters were celebrating the new year.

“I was shocked, couldn’t believe it could be true,” the homeowner said.

She didn’t want to show her face or be named. She’s worried whoever fired those bullets could come back.

She lives in the house with her parents. The shattered window is in her parents’ bedroom. Her mother, who has a cold, was in the room sleeping at the time of the shooting. She said a wooden stand in front of the window stopped the bullet.

“If the wood barrier wasn’t there, it would have hit them. It would have gone straight into the bed,” she said. “If that would have happened, it would have been a different call we would have had to make.”

Unfortunately, they’re not the only Central Florida family that had a close call. Volusia County deputies arrested a man named Alex Gomez for firing into a house. It happened after midnight. Deputies say a woman was sleeping in her Deland home when the bullet flew through a wall. It landed under her pillow.

The family in the Falcon Trace neighborhood has a message for all gun owners.

“If you are going to have a gun, you have to be a safe gun owner,” the woman said. “You are not supposed to be shooting in the air, celebrating anything.”