It’s a sad New Year for a Ruskin, FL family as their 12-year-old son Diego Duran was shot in the head by a stray bullet, while standing in his front yard on New Year’s Eve.
Diego remains in critical condition at the South Bay Hospital in Sun City Center Monday after a stray New Year’s celebration bullet struck him in the head from at least a mile away.
Hillsborough County Sheriff’s spokesperson Larry McKinnon said Diego was shot around 1 a.m. Sunday standing in his front yard in the 410 block of 14th Ave. S.E. in Ruskin.
McKinnon said Diego and his mother, Sandra Duran, were outside when she saw her son fall to the ground bleeding from his nose and eyes.
Diego’s father, also named Diego, said his son just dropped to the ground, “All of a sudden, hell breaks loose — blood all over the place.”
South Bay Hospital doctors quickly determined Diego had been shot in his head and he was rushed to Tampa General Hospital where he remains in critical condition with the bullet still lodged in his head.
Diego senior told News13:
“He’s one of the best men somebody’s ever going to meet when he grows up. He’s a man in the making. Somebody just put a stop on him, but he ain’t going give up. He’s going to grow up and be a better man than what I am.”
Our prayers are with Diego and we are hoping he pulls through.
