A teen girl is in the hospital after she was struck by a bullet that entered her home in Chester, Pennsylvania, while she was playing video games, according to her family.
David Nelson told NBC10 he was inside his home along the 1100 block of Keystone Road shortly after midnight on Wednesday when he heard the sounds of gunshots. He then heard screams from his 16-year-old stepdaughter, who had been playing video games inside her room.
“I heard her screaming and hollering,” Nelson told NBC10. “I came upstairs and that’s when she told me to call 911.”
Get top local stories in Philly delivered to you every morning. >Sign up for NBC Philadelphia's News Headlines newsletter.
Nelson said a bullet pierced through his stepdaughter’s bedroom and struck her in the spine. She was taken to a nearby hospital. Nelson told NBC10 the bullet nearly hit his stepdaughter’s aorta, the body’s main artery.
“She’s in pain but she is conscious,” Nelson said. “But she knows what happened. She knows where she’s at.”
Nelson told NBC10 he doesn’t believe his daughter was targeted and instead thinks the person responsible was mishandling their gun.
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
Nelson describes his stepdaughter as an intelligent teenager who plays basketball. He’s hoping she’ll make a full recovery. He also had a message for the gunman.
“Your carelessness caused a lot of pain,” Nelson said.
Chester Police have not yet released information on the incident or if they’ve identified any suspects.
