LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Between midnight and 6 a.m. on New Year's Day, Louisville Metro Police (LMPD) said MetroSafe received a couple hundred calls for shots fired. However, it can be difficult to tell the difference between gunfire and fireworks.
It's a difference easier to notice when the bullet comes crashing through your roof.
"Everything was nice," Mitra Bastola said, talking about celebrating New Year's Eve with his family and eating traditional Nepalese food, "except this morning."
When his wife came downstairs, she discovered a bullet pierced their skylight and ricocheted off the coffee table.
"Welcome 2024 with a bullet...it's not exciting at all," Bastola said.
He originally heard the sound around 12:30 a.m. but thought it was just fireworks. Bending over, he recreated the scene for WHAS11 News, placing the bullet in the carpet. It's pointed, like the kind usually shot from a rifle.
"It was still hot whenever we picked it up," he said.
After 12 years of living in Louisville, coming to America as a refugee, it's the first time Bastola's encountered gunfire.
"Never used a gun or bullet or anything," he said.
It's also the second time he's looking to fix the roof on his new house.
"But this is the worst," he cautioned, "because somebody could get shot."
Someone like his son, wife or parents.
As a Hindu, Bastola's learned to embrace some American traditions like Christmas, but celebrating New Years by shooting guns into the air is one he can't understand.
"One or two fireworks," he said, "I do fireworks too. I do it with my friends, my son. But this is not the way to do or celebrate anything."
He knows because he's seen how close it could come to shattering a life and ruining a year.
"It could kill somebody," Bastola said.
LMPD condemned "celebratory gunfire" a year ago ahead of New Year's celebrations. That same year, Louisville Metro Council outlawed random gunfire across the city.
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