A New Year’s bullet tore through a trailer home in Ignacio, nearly striking a 6-year-old boy who was celebrating his older brother’s birthday.
The bullet came just after the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Day. Christie Winkler, the boy’s mother, believes it was celebratory gunfire for the holiday.
The round struck a door frame where Jesse Vega, age 6, was standing as he retrieved a toy.
“It sailed a foot over his head,” Winkler said.
Two other boys were at the home at the time for a slumber party to celebrate the older boy’s birthday. The parents were a few doors away, wishing a happy new year to a disabled neighbor. They hustled back after the older brother called.
“The kids were terrified,” Winkler said. “There was sheetrock all over the hall and into the living room.”
Another round hit a neighboring trailer home, Winkler said.
The incident occurred in Meadow Brook Park, 15682 Colorado Highway 172.
Winkler said Ignacio police investigated and bagged the bullet as evidence, but she said officers did not think they’d be able to make an arrest. A call to the Ignacio Police Department was not immediately returned Friday.
Officers found the bullet under the family’s couch, Winkler said.
Winkler said she wants to publicize the dangers of firing into the air.
“I want to get the word out more,” she said.
cslothower@durangoherald.com
