Don't shoot bullets into the sky this New Year's Eve – or ever

Don't shoot bullets into the air on New Year's Eve.

Please.

We don't need somebody getting hit by celebratory gunfire to end 2020. This year has been long enough as it is.

It's a message that was echoed Wednesday by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, which sent a message warning people living in the Tampa Bay area about the dangers of firing into the sky.

"As we all prepare to welcome in 2021, HCSO is asking you to keep our skies bullet-free," the sheriff's office wrote in an email.

Celebratory gunfire isn't just dangerous, it's illegal, too.

"Please remember, those bullets don't just disappear," Sheriff Chad Chronister wrote. "What goes up, must come down. Don't risk taking someone else's life by carelessly shooting into the air."

10 Tampa Bay has previously reported on the consequences of firing into the air. Diego Duran was 12 when he was hit by a .45 caliber bullet while watching fireworks with his family as they rang in the new year in 2012 in Ruskin.

“They didn't know what happened until they flipped me over," Duran said previously. "It felt like that feeling when you hit your funny bone, that tingling but throughout your whole body.” 

Doctors say a difference of even five or six millimeters would have killed him. 

"There are a lot of ways to celebrate the holiday, but shooting into the air for fun should not be one of them," the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said.

If you hear gunfire, dial 911. You can also report something suspicious in Hillsborough County by calling 813-247-8200.

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