TULSA COUNTY - According to the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office the site where the sheriff's office believes a stray bullet hit a man Sunday came from is legally a place where people can shoot.
It's a story the homeowner said is the result of being at the wrong place at the precise wrong time, after a man was shot by a bullet that seemingly came out of thin air.
“Moments before my wife, his wife had just stepped into the garage. It easily could’ve been one of them," said the Brother-in-Law of the man shot, and the homeowner Jeremy Herrington.
It happened in his backyard right before his daughter's baby shower was supposed to start.
“He was putting the dogs away outside and suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back.”
You can see his brother-in-law walk out of the frame of the family's surveillance footage before running to his family holding his back.
“Then they lift up his shirt and it was a lot of blood.”
Sheriff's deputies were on the scene for hours, but couldn't find a single shell casing, and the man shot said absolutely no one was around.
"What we think may've happened is that the river is just to this side, people target shoot in that area a lot," said Tulsa County Sheriff's Office Spokeswoman Casey Roebuck.
Facing that river is the trailer park where Steven Horsley has lived for years.
“All day long sometimes half the night, 2, 3 o’clock in the morning they’ll be out there shooting their guns," he said.
He said it happens all the time, but one time in particular still haunts him.
"It was like World War three here. We were dodging bullets, hiding behind trees, vehicles just to keep from getting hit.”
Discharging a firearm is illegal within the city limits of Sand Springs, according to the Sand Springs Police Department, and while the people in the area have a Sand Springs address, the land is technically in Tulsa County.
And according to the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office, if the land is not in city limits, the gun handler's actions aren't displaying reckless conduct, and the property owner allows it, there aren't any state laws prohibiting it.
“People need to manage their gun safety, they need to be aware of where they’re shooting guns, they need to be aware of what they’re doing," Herrington said.
“What’s it going to take somebody to get shot over here and killed or something, or a kid to get hit, what’s it going to take to get them to stop it?" Horsley said.
The sheriff's office canvassed the area surrounding the river and said it still doesn't know where exactly the shot came from.
The victim's family said he's out of the hospital and doing OK.
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