RAYTOWN, Mo. — Nova Brooks says she heard a boom in her living room just after midnight on the morning of New Year’s Day. She noticed some plaster from her ceiling on the living room sofa, but didn’t realize what had happened until Wednesday January 2nd.
That’s when her 4-year old daughter found a bullet on the living room floor next to the sofa.
“It came through the roof, into the ceiling, right down, anybody was sitting right there, they would’ve been dead, ” said Brooks.
The 40-year-old mother of three says she doesn’t oppose people owning guns for self-protection, but says firing them indiscriminately into the air to celebrate a holiday is a different matter.
“They’re just using them like we’re in the Wild, Wild West, anybody can get hit,” said Brooks.
Brooks says she gave the bullet to police but fears it’s a case officers will never solve.
“What if, what if, that’s what keeps going through my mind is what if. I thought about the 11 year old girl that was killed 2 years ago,” said Brooks.
On July 4th, 2011, 11-year old Blair Shanahan Lane of Independence, Misouri was killed in a relative’s backyard by a bullet that came from nearly a thousand feet away. Police arrested four men for celebrating the 4th by randomly firing a gun from a nearby apartment complex. The owner of the gun is now serving 3 years in prison.
Lane’s parents are hoping Missouri lawmakers will pass “Blair’s Law” which would make it a felony to randomly fire guns into the air.
Brooks tells FOX 4 she hopes the measure becomes law.
“It should’ve been passed a long time ago. I don’t think more kids need to sacrifice their life to prove a point,” said Brooks.
