A 10-year-old boy was hit by a stray bullet while riding on his backyard swing, officials said.

While riding on his backyard swing, Rivera, of Edgelake Court, New Orleans East, was struck by a bullet.

It was just after 10 p.m., and the boom of gunshots was muffled by neighboring fireworks.

“We thought it was a firework until we saw the shot,” his cousin Diana Lopez told WDSU Saturday. “We got scared and called the police.”

Investigators with the New Orleans Police Department believe that whoever shot the gun into the air did so to celebrate New Year’s Eve. The police point out that, while celebratory gunfire is still common on holidays, it is against the law.

“You have to be careful not to shoot the weapons up,” Rivera said. “The [bullet] could fall down, and that thing could kill someone.”

“I felt so bad that they would shoot, because it almost took his life,” said Lopez, pointing at her cousin. “It can happen to other people, and people can die from it.”

Rivera isn’t the only New Orleans child who has been shot in recent weeks. Several shots were fired Saturday at the intersection of Decatur and Spain streets, according to police. 

And on Sunday night in Algiers, 9-year-old Dillan Burton died after being shot in the back seat of her mother’s vehicle while riding in the backseat with her mother.

According to the NOPD, Rivera’s investigation was one of three incidences involving firearms on New Year’s Eve.

In the area of the 7800 block of Coronet Court, at 10 p.m. Friday, cops were investigating an unrelated traffic stop when they heard bullets, according to reports.

They claimed that three people were found with firearms, including a rifle. The individual with the rifle, according to police, pointed it at them before fleeing the scene.

A 17-year-old was arrested and booked into the Juvenile Justice Intervention Center on three counts of aggravated assault on a police officer, one count of illegal use of weapons, one count of possession of a firearm by a juvenile, and one count of fleeing from an officer after officers pursued them for several miles.

The other two suspects are still on the run, according to the police.

Anyone with additional information on any of these instances is urged to contact Crimestoppers at (504) 822-1111 or submit a tip online.

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