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Bullets Are Holiday Fallout

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 3, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - In a single half-hour during New Year's Eve festivities, bullets presumably fired into the air in celebration returned to earth, hitting two people and narrowly missing two others, St. Petersburg police say.

At 12:08 a.m. Tuesday, David Tyson Mink, 23, of Clearwater was walking with friends in the 700 block of Third Avenue South when he felt "something hard" hit him on the left shoulder, police spokesman George Kajtsa said. It knocked Mink to the ground and at first he thought it was fireworks, but then he and a friend noticed a bullet sticking out of his skin. They continued to the friend's house and called police.

At 12:24 a.m., Ronald and Victoria Jean - he's 40, she's 36 - were sitting in their house at 608 Kingston St. S. when a bullet pierced a back window, penetrated a wooden door and entered a bedroom where it ended up in a wedding dress hanging in a closet. Police have categorized it as a stray bullet fired during New Year's Eve celebrations.

At 12:36 a.m., Henry J. Thompson, 19, was sitting in an enclosed porch at 3091 Melrose Ave. S. when a bullet punched through the porch's metal roof and barely missed him before ending up on the floor.

At 12:38 a.m., 14-year-old Caprica Woodard was sitting in a chair outside 2303 Seventh St. S. when a bullet struck her upper thigh and remained lodged there. She was taken to All Children's Hospital, Kajtsa said.

All told, there were 16 incidents of falling bullets striking people, structures or cars, the police spokesman said. More reports may roll in as residents who were out of town return.

Mink, one of the victims, was philosophical about his injury.

"Hopefully, I got all the bad for the year out of the way... on the first day about 10 seconds in," he told News Channel 8. "I am so lucky; I mean if I would have been one full step to the left, it would have been my head or my neck."

He said he plans to stay indoors next New Year's Eve.
News Channel 8 reporter Claudia DoCampo contributed to this report. Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib

.com.

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