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Busch Gardens visitor hit by stray bullet
A visitor enjoying the July 4th holiday at a Florida theme park is recovering after being hit by ‘celebratory’ gunfire.
Due to the downward trajectory, Tampa police believe Scott Deel, 36, was hit by a stray bullet likely fired up in the air by a holiday reveller.
Deel was watching the park fireworks when he felt a sharp pain to his shoulder and then saw blood.
Busch Gardens insists the gunfire came from outside the park.
"We are working closely with the Tampa Police Department on this incident as the safety of Busch Gardens Tampa Bay’s guests, team members and animals in our care is always our top priority," it said in a statement.
"This is something that we see every year, it’s not unique to Tampa. I think it happens all over the place," Tampa police spokesman Steve Hegarty said.
"People need to understand that when you shoot up in the air, it does come down somewhere."
There were two other similar near-miss incidents in Tampa that night with stray bullets breaking a car’s windshield and another landing inside an apartment.
There was also a similar scenario at Busch Gardens back in 2014 when a woman was hit in the leg watching the New Year’s Eve fireworks.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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