Man was lounging by the pool in the Central West End when a falling bullet hit him, police say

ST. LOUIS (KMOV) - A man in his 70s was injured when a bullet fell from the sky in the Central West End on Sunday.

According to police, the man was lounging by the pool in the 4500 block of Maryland just before 4 p.m. when he was hit by a bullet that fell from the sky. Arriving officers reported seeing the bullet protruding from his right thigh. The man was taken to the hospital in stable condition.

The Central West End Neighborhood Security Initiative’s Executive Director Jim Whyte says residents called him on Sunday to find out what happened.

“What goes up must come down,” Whyte said.

The Neighborhood Security Initiative has cameras at intersections throughout the Central West End and while combing through surveillance footage, Whyte couldn’t find anything about the shooting itself, leading him to believe it didn’t happen near the home of the victim.

“These things do land somewhere and you just don’t know when you discharge your firearm in a populated area, what could be the consequences of that,” Whyte said.

Laurie Vincent has lived in Central West End for the last three years and says she wants to see more police presence in the neighborhood.

“Bullets falling out of the sky may be a rare experience but gunshots in the night, hearing those is not a rare experience.,” Vincent said.

Many people consider the Central West End to be a safe neighborhood. Whyte says this is part of a bigger problem about gun regulations in St. Louis.

“The amount of guns that are available in the city of St. Louis, some of the violent crimes that happen in the city of St. Louis, certainly the Central West End is not immune from these sort of things and we can see that in this event,” Whyte said.

First Alert 4 asked SLMPD if there’s an idea of where the bullet came from and we’re told the investigation is still ongoing.

So far this year, SLMPD has responded to 60 shooting calls in the Central West End.

Police previously said the shooting happened in the 4200 block of Maryland and that the victim was a 7-year-old but later clarified the victim was in their 70s.

Copyright 2023 KMOV. All rights reserved.