LOS ANGELES (KCAL/KCBS) – A family counts itself fortunate. They still don’t know where a bullet that struck an 18-year-old came from, but they now realize how close they came to tragedy.
A gaming headset is credited with saving the life of Jonathan Gonzalez.
“You can see the damage. It actually bent this piece of metal here and went through,” said Gonzalez, an active gamer.
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He was on his PlayStation the morning of April 1 just after midnight listening to music and chatting with friends when he felt something hit his head.
“It felt like if you’re wearing a bike helmet, and someone just smacks the top of your head,” Gonzalez said.
He looked up and found the bullet hole in his bedroom window. The gunshot ripped his curtains down.
After it struck him in the head, the bullet ricocheted against the wall and landed in his bed.
“If it wasn’t for these on my head, it probably would’ve went through,” Gonzalez said.
He ran to his parents’ room shouting he thought he’d been shot.
Nearly two weeks later, his family is still trying to process this close call.
“It’s still a trigger for me to process the thought that I could’ve lost my son. We were asleep, and if it did hurt him, we would not have known until we woke up hours later,” said Janet Popoca, the teen’s mother.
When the Los Angeles Police Department responded, officers could not find the shooter. They don’t believe the gun was fired at close range.
Gonzalez’s mom says even officers couldn’t believe what happened. “They were just shocked,” she said.
Gonzalez said he keeps thinking about how an inch in either direction could’ve changed things drastically.
“Minding my own business in my own room, and I could’ve been gone. Just thinking about it for the first week made me sick,” he said.
Razor, the company that makes the headphones, sent him a replacement.
Gonzalez said he still loves to game, but he’s now leery of what’s happening outside his window.
Police are still investigating the shooting.
Gonzalez’s family said they hope for an arrest, but they are learning to appreciate life a lot more.
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