New Year's Eve bullet comes through Cape Breton family's home

A Sydney Mines, N.S., woman is warning others about the danger of firing guns into the air after a stray bullet came through her family's roof on New Year's Eve.

Sherry Ramsey said she and her family had gathered in the kitchen at around midnight for the celebratory countdown to ring in 2025. When she went into her bedroom about a half-hour later, she noticed small bits of drywall and debris all over her bed.

After searching around, she found a hole in her ceiling and a bullet lying near a pillow on the bed. 

"My daughter heard me make an exclamation and she came to see what was up and we both sort of stared at it for a few minutes," said Ramsey, a Cape Breton author. "I just sort of picked it up to be sure of what I was seeing."

The bullet was about an inch and a half long and is believed to have been discharged from a rifle.

Ramsey said she recalled hearing popping noises at around midnight but didn't think much of it. 

"It's common occurrence here, I think most people use blanks or shotgun pellets," she said. "We certainly do hear the guns and fireworks."

Gordon MacDonald, the Cape Breton regional councillor for the area, agrees it's a long-standing tradition for people to fire off guns in the area to welcome in the new year.

But he's never heard of a bullet piercing someone's roof.

"For something to go up and come through a roof, it would have to be of high velocity," said MacDonald. 

"They go up quite high and the velocity of those things coming down could do a lot of damage to anybody, a pet or human."

Staff Sgt. Erin Donovan of Cape Breton Regional Police said this is the first time in her 25-year policing career that she's investigated an incident like this one.

But she cautioned that discharging a firearm in a residential area is illegal and could result in charges of careless use of a firearm under the Criminal Code.

"Once you shoot a weapon up, you have no control as to where the bullet would come down and lodge," said Donovan. "It could potentially come back and strike an individual. It's just a very dangerous, unsafe practice."

Ramsey is thankful no one was hurt by the stray bullet and said people need to act responsibly when they are out celebrating.

"Don't be just firing up into the air in a residential area because what comes up has to come down," she said. "It could have been tragic if that bullet had come down on a person, or on an animal."