TAMPA, Fla. (AP/WSVN) — Tampa police say a man was injured by celebratory gunfire while visiting Busch Gardens on the Fourth of July.
Authorities say the man was struck by a bullet above the shoulder blade around 10 p.m. Wednesday. Fox 13 reports the man felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, and his wife then noticed that he was bleeding. Park security gave him first aid before paramedics transported him to a nearby hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Investigators said the bullet most likely came from celebratory gunfire outside the theme park. The man was shot around the same time Busch Gardens set off their Fourth of July fireworks show.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned that bullets fired into the air return to the ground at speeds greater than 200 feet per second, with enough force to penetrate the human skull and cause serious injury or death.
Tampa authorities say there were two other celebratory gunfire incidents in the city on the Fourth.
A 61-year-old woman came home to her apartment to find a hole in her ceiling and a projectile on her bedroom floor, according to police.
And a 39-year-old woman who lives less than a mile from Busch Gardens noticed a hole in the windshield of her car that was sitting in her driveway. After responding to the scene, police identified a bullet on the driver’s side floor board and determined the evidence was consistent with other stray bullets from July 4 celebratory gunfire.
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