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Bullet From Police Gun Range Hits Military Veteran
FOX News | 8/22/2007
Veteran hit by stray bullet from police gun range almost a mile away
ABC 13 Houston (KTRK) | 8/22/2007
ELK CITY — Bill Bolechala survived 24 years in the Air Force and the Vietnam War without getting shot. So he never expected to be hit by a stray bullet from a police gun range while standing at a car dealership Tuesday in Elk City.
"It felt like someone hit me with a ball bat or like a bird struck me in the side,” said Bolechala, a Burns Flat city councilman. "I was wiping my left side because it kind of hurt, and when I looked down, I had blood all over me.”
He was getting his car serviced about 9:40 a.m. when the shooting happened.
He was taken to a local hospital, where he was released about 1:30 p.m.
Doctors left the bullet in his side but said they will remove it if the wound becomes infected, Bolechala said. The 9 mm bullet, police think, was from a shooting range two or three miles away. Somehow, it ricocheted into Bolechala's side, between his hips and ribs.
"I'm not in shock, but I didn't plan on getting shot,” he said.
A dispatcher for the Elk City Police Department said no one was available to comment for this story.
Bolechala said he has no ill-will toward the police, who told him they will pay medical bills related to the shooting.
He did not, however, sign a waiver limiting damages the department could face.
He said he has no lawsuit planned.
"It was just a freak of nature; nobody did it on purpose,” Bolechala said. "The good Lord was with me, and it wasn't my time to die. I don't begrudge or blame anybody. It was just one of those things that happened.”
He was a teacher for 18 years and has been a Burns Flat city councilman since 1993.
"I've been a teacher, and I'm on the town council and never been shot at,” he said, laughing.
"All I can say is, ‘Duck.'
"You are more apt to get hit by a car then get shot at a dealership.”
Bullet From Police Gun Range Hits Military Veteran
FOX News | 8/22/2007
Veteran hit by stray bullet from police gun range almost a mile away
ABC 13 Houston (KTRK) | 8/22/2007
ELK CITY — Bill Bolechala survived 24 years in the Air Force and the Vietnam War without getting shot. So he never expected to be hit by a stray bullet from a police gun range while standing at a car dealership Tuesday in Elk City.
"It felt like someone hit me with a ball bat or like a bird struck me in the side,” said Bolechala, a Burns Flat city councilman. "I was wiping my left side because it kind of hurt, and when I looked down, I had blood all over me.”
He was getting his car serviced about 9:40 a.m. when the shooting happened.
He was taken to a local hospital, where he was released about 1:30 p.m.
Doctors left the bullet in his side but said they will remove it if the wound becomes infected, Bolechala said. The 9 mm bullet, police think, was from a shooting range two or three miles away. Somehow, it ricocheted into Bolechala's side, between his hips and ribs.
"I'm not in shock, but I didn't plan on getting shot,” he said.
A dispatcher for the Elk City Police Department said no one was available to comment for this story.
Bolechala said he has no ill-will toward the police, who told him they will pay medical bills related to the shooting.
He did not, however, sign a waiver limiting damages the department could face.
He said he has no lawsuit planned.
"It was just a freak of nature; nobody did it on purpose,” Bolechala said. "The good Lord was with me, and it wasn't my time to die. I don't begrudge or blame anybody. It was just one of those things that happened.”
He was a teacher for 18 years and has been a Burns Flat city councilman since 1993.
"I've been a teacher, and I'm on the town council and never been shot at,” he said, laughing.
"All I can say is, ‘Duck.'
"You are more apt to get hit by a car then get shot at a dealership.”
