Covered porch protects Hendersonville man nearly hit by celebratory gunfire

HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - A Sumner County man had a close call with a random bullet that came dangerously close to hitting him Monday night.

Steve Bertoldo was sitting on his back porch celebrating Independence Day when the bullet hit the metal covering directly above him.

“All of a sudden I hear a big crack, and I hear something rolling down and it was this bullet right here,” Bertoldo said. “That’s dangerous because what goes up will come down, and you know, thank God that this was over my head.”

Bertoldo said several of his grandchildren were in the backyard playing when the random bullet came down.

“It really freaked me out because I said, ‘man, all these kids running around in the backyard, that could’ve easily penetrated their head.’ It was very frightening,” Bertoldo said.

Metro Police said this week three people were hit by random bullets downtown during the July 4 celebration. After his own near-miss, Bertoldo hopes to warn others about the dangers of celebratory gunfire.

“Hopefully everybody will take heed to listening to this and not fire their guns off in the air, because again, what goes up will come down,” Bertoldo said. “Think of what the repercussions will be if you do something with that gun.”

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