A pregnant mom was hit by a stray bullet while she was sleeping - with the bullet narrowly missing her two young children.
It really was the stuff of Christmas nightmares as Kendall Heinold looked forward to starting the festive season with her children.
The 27-year-old, who is 16 weeks pregnant, had put her kids to sleep after watching a Christmas movie.
However, early on Thursday (21 December) in her Aurora home, Heinold and her husband heard gunfire before feeling a sharp pain in her left side.
Speaking to KDVR, Heinold said: "My husband was sleeping next to me and he got up and was like, ‘Did you hear that?’
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"Because it was so loud, and I just looked at him and was like, ‘Babe, call 911, I just got shot.’”
The pregnant mom was subsequently rushed to hospital where doctors found the bullet lodged in her shoulder.
Aurora Police Department said in a statement posted on X ( formerly known as Twitter): "A 27-year-old woman was transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after being shot while inside of her house in the 900blk of S. Joplin Way.
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"The shot is believed to have come from the greenbelt that is located between Alameda and Mississippi, east of Chambers, just before 2a."
Heinold and her husband later discovered a bullet hole in their home - just inches away from where their children, aged five and six, had been sleeping.
She went on to say how the bullet had passed through the kids' bedroom first before it made impact with her arm.
"The bullet had come through their bedroom first," Heinold told KDVR.
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"The bullet missed my 5-year-old daughter’s head by like a foot, and went through their room, through my closet, and into my pregnancy pillow.
"The pregnancy pillow, honestly, I think is what saved my life, because it went in through the side and my arm was on top of it, so the bullet changed trajectory when it hit my pillow."
Because of her pregnancy, medical professionals decided to leave the bullet in Heinold's shoulder rather than place her under anesthesia for surgery.
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The mum-of-two said that she doesn't believe that the shot was intentionally for her but is relieved that it was the 'best case scenario'.
She added: "So, luckily, it missed my children and my baby and my dog and my husband, but ended up in my arm, which I think is best case scenario, considering, but still scary.”
No further information has been issued on any potential arrests surrounding the incident.
UNILAD has contacted Aurora Police Department for further comment.
Topics: US News
Callum Jones