O'FALLON, MO (KTVI-FOX2now.com)—
Bizarre new details are emerging about the stray bullet that hit a 16-year-old lifeguard in the leg at a crowded O'Fallon, Missouri subdivision pool.
Investigators say the bullet came from teens using rifles for target practice. Police tell FOX 2 News that the bullet traveled nearly three quarters of a mile before hitting the lifeguard in the leg.On Tuesday there were lots of people at the Twin Chimneys Clubhouse Pool but several people told us they are a little uneasy in the wake of what happened Sunday at around 6:45pm.
Investigators say a tip led them to five teens.
Police tell FOX 2 News that the five were using .22-caliber rifles for target practice on private property off Highway N near the subdivision.
Police seized four rifles, but so far no charges have been filed against the teens because it's legal to shoot off guns in unincorporated St. Charles County. That's where the shooting was happening. Residents are stunned by the new developments.
"They need to find a better way to set up this target practice, ok. If that bullet can come this far into the limits here, then they need to find a safer way to set that up," said Dawna Kunz, who was at the pool with her granddaughter.
"It is scary. As a mom with little kids and then so close to my backyard, I feel shocked that something like that happened in this neighborhood," added Patty Wuerstl, who has three young kids and lives right behind the pool.
The family of the lifeguard did not want to talk on camera.
But the 16 year old's mother says she's doing fine and didn't even realize she had been shot until police called later in the evening after she had returned home from being treated at the hospital.
The mother calls what took place a fluke and says her daughter does plan to return to work at the pool. She would like to see laws changed to prohibit shooting guns in unincorporated St. Charles County.
