POLICE: Lufkin man hospitalized after getting struck by celebratory gunfire on New Year’s

LUFKIN, Texas — A Lufkin man was taken to the hospital after officials say he was hit by a stray bullet from celebratory gunfire during New Year’s festivities. It was just after midnight when something no one ever expected to happen did in the northwest area of town.

According to the city of Lufkin, the police department is investigating an overnight shooting Monday that sent the man to a Tyler hospital for treatment. The shooting happened in the 2200 block of North Raguet Street.

Lufkin resident Grace Ann Wilson was home when she noticed there were more than just fireworks going off outside. 

“I had gotten up and all of a sudden looked and there were like four police cars,” Wilson said. “I was there for about an hour and a half, and then at about probably an hour and 15 minutes a fire truck followed by an ambulance are flying into town.”

Just like her neighbors, Wilson found out about the incident the next day on social media. Another Lufkin resident, Teresa Garcia, lives down the street and said she and her family saw the scene after returning home last night at two in the morning. 

“We did see that there was a lot of commotion going on over there,” Garcia said. “But we do hear a lot of gunfire here a lot at night and we have a lot of issues like cars racing in the middle of the night.”

Although Garcia said her family hears a lot of noises at night, another resident in the area, Kasandra Del Toro said they don’t typically see incidents like this happen in this part of town. 

“It’s pretty quiet and just peaceful here,” Del Toro said. “I mean, there’s nothing really happening.”

Officials say the victim was hit by a stray bullet from what looks like celebratory gunfire at midnight. He remains in the Tyler hospital as of 11:45 a.m. Monday.

 The investigation is ongoing, the city said.