BEAUMONT, Texas — One Beaumont woman is thankful her family didn't get hurt after she says celebratory gunfire on New Year's Eve sent a bullet through the roof of her garage.
It wasn't just fireworks Cathy Thompson was hearing on December 31.
What goes up, must come down and where the bullets will land is anyone's guess.
Thompson said she is sure the bullet that ended up in her garage came from someone's celebratory gunfire.
"That actually came through the roof," Thompson said.
She lives on Bettes Street in Beaumont, and had no idea the bullet came through her house until New Years Day.
She knows it could have been devastating.
"The first story I saw is when the lady in Houston had been killed by gunfire," Thompson said.
A 61-year-old woman in Houston was struck by a single bullet in the neck while celebrating New Year's Eve.
No one in her group fired a gun, and police are still searching for shell casings.
Investigators suspect celebratory gunfire killed her.
On New Year's Eve, the Beaumont Police Department got 26 shots fired calls.
They received 23 in the first hour of 2020 alone.
"At this time we know of 5 calls for sure where citizens came out New Year's Day and found their vehicle had been struck by celebratory gunfire," Officer Haley Morrow said.
Homeowners who live on Bettes, Earl Street, Magnolia Avenue and Park Avenue all reported bullet holes in cars or roofs of homes.
"We just started hearing the 'boom, boom, boom,' and it sounded like a war zone. It was ridiculous," Thompson said.
She says it lasted for hours.
"Oh my gosh I finally fell asleep around 2 o'clock that morning and I still heard it at that point," Thompson said.
Luckily at this time there are no reports of anyone being hit by a stray bullet.
"We always look at things on TV and you want to say 'poor families' but then when it happens to you, then, oh it's real. That was, not a wake up call, but it really hit home that we can be here one minute and gone the next," Thompson said.