Fort Worth pastor feet away from being hit by stray bullet while preaching on NYE

Pastor Evan Risher is starting off his new year thankful.

While preaching a New Year’s Eve sermon on Monday night, Risher was mere feet from being hit by a stray bullet that pierced the roof and fell right in front of him — and his congregation of 300 people.

“My emotions are everywhere,” said Risher, who preaches at Ramp Church at 5430 Miller Avenue in Fort Worth.

He said police believe the bullet came from people shooting off celebratory gunshots for New Year’s.

“Bullets don’t have a name on them,” he said. “If they come up, they have to come down. People are losing their lives innocently over something so careless.”

Risher said the bullet came through the roof of the building, which the church just renovated in November. Monday night’s service was the second held in the new building, Risher said.

Risher was in the middle of his sermon at 11:38 p.m. when the bullet came down in front of him. His security team rushed him off stage. He said the congregation did not know what was going on.

“I got back on stage and told the congregation what happened,” Risher said. “I didn’t know if people were gonna walk out. It turned into this service of gratefulness. It was an atmosphere of a celebration of life.”

The 40-caliber bullet left an indentation on the church stage and several police officers who are  members of the congregation took it, Risher said. Risher filed a police report and said police told him they had received many calls on New Year’s Eve from people shooting firearms in the air.

“By the grace of God, (the bullet) just hit the stage,” Risher said. “It shook me. I had a lot of mixed emotions about it today.”

Police in several parts of the country were investigating reports of celebratory gunfire causing injuries.

An Indianapolis woman was hospitalized after likely getting hit during celebratory gunfire on New Year’s Eve there, according to Fox 59 news.

In California, a 6-year-old girl was hit in the head by a falling, stray bullet in East Oakland. She is recovering from her injuries. In Baltimore, a 14-year-old was injured by a stray bullet near the Inner Harbor.

This story was originally published January 1, 2019 at 5:54 PM.