NEW ORLEANS — Police are still investigating after a dangerous New Year's Eve celebration injured another child. Luckily, the 10-year-old is expected to be okay after he was hit by a falling bullet. It happened in the backyard of a home on Edgelake Court in New Orleans East.
Fabian Rivera was on a swing watching fireworks after 10 p.m. on New Year's Eve when his close friend, 10-year-old Diana Lopez, saw him panic.
"We was talking, he was looking at the sky and then we heard like fireworks and then he got off the swing and came crying with blood," Lopez said.
She didn't realize it was a gunshot as the gunfire mixed with the sound of fireworks.
"I was nervous because I didn’t think it was a shot at first, I thought it was fireworks," Lopez said.
According to New Orleans police, the 10-year-old was hit by a falling bullet. He was taken to a hospital but is now home recovering. Miraculously, he is expected to be okay.
"Feeling good," Rivera said.
The bullet hit him near his mouth and through his neck. He said it broke two of his teeth.
"Terrible," he recalled the pain he felt.
Historically in New Orleans, reports of gunfire do go up during New Year's Eve and the Fourth of July as people are also popping fireworks. NOPD posted a warning on social media before the holiday asking people not to shoot guns into the air.
"If he was not looking at the sky he could die because it could have gone through his head," Lopez said. "So he almost died from that."
Now both 10-year-olds hope their message reaches those using firearms for celebratory gunshots.
"Be careful when you shoot because it can go through somebody and you can go to jail for that," Lopez said.
"You don’t have to shoot up because it can come down and kill more kids," Rivera warned.
His family is just thankful he is still here and able to share the story himself.
NOPD has not released any arrests made for this shooting but says it is being investigated.
Boy survives falling bullet that went through face on New Year's Eve
The bullet went in above his mouth, exited through his neck and broke two teeth along the way.