What a 42-year-old Florida woman thought was a wound from a firecracker that hit her leg on the Fourth of July turned out to have been inflicted by a .38 caliber bullet.
According to My Fox Orlando, Heather Charlebois and her friends were sitting at Café DaVinci, in the city of DeLand, listening to music around 10:30 p.m. Saturday. Suddenly, there was a large pop and Charlebois felt a pain shoot up her right thigh. Figuring someone had accidentally set off a firecracker, the group left the venue. After four days of pain, however, Charlebois’ friends urged her to go to the hospital and have her wound checked out.
“Everyone was telling me it looked like a bullet hole so they wanted me to go to the hospital, so I did,” she said.
Doctors confirmed suspicions and found a .38 caliber bullet lodged in her thigh. Because the bullet was so close to her femoral artery, Charlebois was told that the bullet would remain where it was. Despite the pain she still feels, Charlebois is counting her blessings.
"I feel very fortunate. I have four kids and we've been through a lot," she told WFTV.
DeLand police believe someone fired their gun into the air during a fireworks display not far from the courtyard where Charlebois was.
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