It was almost a tragic start to 2017 for a Berks County couple after a bullet entered their home and nearly struck their baby girl.
Josh and Gina Katrinak were inside their Mount Penn home shortly after midnight Sunday while their three young children slept. The couple stood at their window to try and see the New Year’s Eve fireworks show in Reading near the Pagoda when the glass suddenly shattered.
“A couple shards blew up and they were on my shirt,” Josh Katrinak told NBC10. “It hit my face.”
Gina Katrinak said they first thought kids had thrown something through the window. As her husband ran outside to check, Gina saw a bullet on the floor next to her sleeping daughter’s crib.
“It was a life changing moment there,” Josh said.
Police say someone likely fired a rifle to celebrate the New Year and the bullet traveled through the couple’s home.
“The trajectory of this bullet came from the city side of the other side of the mountain,” said Central Berks Regional Police Chief Raymond Serfin. “What people don’t realize is that when you fire a weapon those projectiles return back to earth. They don’t stay up in the sky or go nowhere.”
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The couple called police right away. Investigators took the bullet and are currently running tests on it while figuring out who fired the shot. Josh and Gina, meanwhile, are shaken by the incident but grateful no one was hurt.
“Clearly there’s no thought involved,” Gina said. “They think that they’re celebrating. They think that it’s fun to make a lot of noise and the bullets end up somewhere. What goes up comes down and innocent people can be affected and hurt or killed by that.”
