Stray bullet interrupted Rochester man's video game

Josh Demeritt points to where the bullet came into the upstairs bedroom where he was playing video games. (Harrison Thorp photos)

ROCHESTER - Not many men can tell the story about how they got shot in the head.

Josh Demeritt can.

Demeritt, 20, was sitting on a bed playing video games at his friend’s house on Tuesday evening when a stray bullet from a gun accidentally fired from across the street went through two walls, traveled about 80 feet across the street, entered the house where Demeritt was, went through two windows and two more walls, then plopped off his head falling harmlessly on the floor beside him.

The view from the window at 15 Leonard St. partially shattered by a stray bullet allegedly discharged from 16 Leonard St. Tuesday night

“It felt like someone threw a pebble at me,” said Demeritt on Wednesday.

Corey Field, 25, of 16 Leonard St., the man who allegedly shot the weapon, a 40 mm Smith and Wesson, was arrested later that night and charged with felony reckless conduct for firing the handgun and felony falsifying physical evidence for allegedly burying the weapon in a snowbank outside a nearby laundromat.

His $5,000 cash bail was changed to personal recognizance at his arraignment in Rochester District Court on Wednesday.

Field was released after the 11 a.m. hearing, but was still not home late Wednesday afternoon. He reportedly asked the judge if he could go apologize to Demeritt, but was advised not to, possibly because he still had no legal representation.

His third-floor bedroom was easily identified by police as the location from where the firearm was shot due to the downward trajectory into the home of Donna Stuart, who lives across the street at 15 Leonard St.

Corey Field (Rochester Police photo)

After the bullet came through her bedroom’s window, it shattered some Venetian blinds, traveled through a wall on the opposite side of the bedroom and into the bedroom where Demeritt was. The path of the bullet was clearly diverted inside the interior bedroom wall when it likely hit a stud, Stuart theorized. Hitting the stud probably directed the bullet toward Demeritt but also slowed its speed and force.

Demeritt said once he realized he was OK after the bullet hit him in the head, he called Stuart’s son to ask him if anyone else was in the house, because he suspected someone was in the house and had thrown something at him. He was told no one else was in the house. Then he found the bullet on the floor.

It had struck the right side of his head about an inch and a half above the hairline, he said.

“I heard a loud crash and bang pretty much the same time,” Demeritt said, likely made as the bullet tore through glass and wood into the room where he was.

Donna Stuart stands in front of the bullet hole, while Josh Demeritt shows where he was playing video games when the bullet hit him in the head.

Demeritt was pretty nonchalant talking about the incident on Wednesday, but he said he wasn’t when it happened.
“You should have seen how fast I got out of the bed,” he said.

He said a lot people have told him he should play the lottery this week, but he said he doesn’t play.

 “God was looking out for me,” he said.