Stray Bullets from Holiday Celebrations Injure Nacogdoches Woman

Nacogdoches County Sheriff’s Office investigators are looking into two shootings over the holiday weekend, one of which injured a woman.

The first incident took place on New Year's Eve south of Nacogdoches, near Pineywoods Country Club.  According to a release from the NCSO, a 22-year-old woman was struck by a stray bullet around 6:30 p.m. Friday while sitting on the outdoor patio of her employer’s home in the 3000 block of U.S. 59 South. The woman said she heard gunshots in the area and felt an impact about 30 seconds to a minute after hearing the shots. The woman suffered a small laceration to her back. She was treated and released from a Lufkin hospital for the non-life threatening injury.

The woman’s employer discovered a slug on his patio the following morning, at which point he contacted the sheriff’s office. The bullet struck her at a downward trajectory, as if returning to earth after being fired up into the air at another location, investigators believe. It is unclear from where the round was fired. The slug was collected by investigators. No suspect has been identified.

In a separate incident, deputies were dispatched to a home in the 5200 block of South Street around 11:40 p.m. after receiving a 911 call in which a resident reported a bullet striking her bedroom wall just above her bed, where she was lying at the time. The woman was not injured in the incident. This incident took place about a mile north of the previous report.

A rifle round was recovered from the wall by sheriff’s office investigators. Nacogdoches County Sheriff Jason Bridges along with other investigators, identified several individuals who’d been shooting in the area at the time a short distance north of the woman’s home. An AK-47 style rifle, magazines and ammunition were collected by investigators at the scene after the men told deputies they’d been shooting into some brush that night. Several spent casings of the same caliber as the firearm were recovered from the scene as well. Both incidents appear to be related to people celebrating New Years Eve.

Investigations into both are ongoing.