A 31-year-old woman was fatally injured by her boyfriend’s celebratory gunshots in the early moments of the new year, according to police in Cleveland, Ohio.
The 38-year-old boyfriend was “popping off” gunshots after midnight on New Year’s Day when one of the bullets fatally injured his girlfriend, according to police. The woman was rushed to hospital, where she was pronounced dead, police told 19 News.
Authorities arrested the man and are still investigating the case. They said it was likely an instance of illegal celebratory gunfire. The suspect’s identity has not been released.
Police say there were a total of 11 shootings in Cleveland over nine hours from New Year’s Eve to New Year’s Day.
The 31-year-old is the second reported fatality from celebratory gunfire in the United States over the new year.
A 61-year-old nurse was also fatally injured in Houston, Texas, on New Year’s Eve, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. A bullet hit her while she was ringing in the new year by setting off fireworks with neighbours in a suburban cul-de-sac, police told the Houston Chronicle.
The nurse, who has been identified as Philippa Ashford, was struck by a stray bullet in the neck, according to the sheriff’s office. She was pronounced dead at the scene, local station KPRC reports.
Police canvassed the area but were unable to find the origin of the bullet.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez blamed the case on “celebratory gunfire,” according to the Chronicle.
“Today we add another example of an innocent life taken due to this senseless and reckless behaviour. Unfortunately, deaths like this are not rare,” Gonzalez said. “Our region has a long history with celebratory gunfire.”
The death occurred just hours after Houston police Chief Art Acevedo warned Texans it was illegal to shoot guns in the air in celebration.
Ashford had been a nurse for many years and also worked as an adjunct professor at the University of Texas Health Science Centre in Houston, KPRC reports.
“You shouldn’t have to worry about stray bullets coming down and hitting you,” Ashford’s neighbour, an ex-police officer named John Babineaux, told KPRC.
“But it happens all the time, and innocent people get hurt and killed out here.”