6-Year-Old Suffers Minor Injury After Bullet Travels Through Wall, Hits Foot

KEARNS, Utah – A 6-year-old girl received a bruise after a bullet traveled through a wall, through the headboard of a bed and through a pillow before striking her foot.

The incident happened at approximately 1 a.m. in the area of 5200 West and Westslope Drive.

Lt. Manfred Lassig with the Unified Police Department said the girl’s injuries could have been much worse if the bullet had entered the wall just inches in another direction.

“By the grace of God, we’re lucky that we’re not here investigating the death of a 6-year-old,” he said. “By inches over, this little gal would have ended up with a bullet in the top of her head, asleep, because somebody thought bringing out a gun and into an argument, shooting rounds, was the appropriate thing to do.”

On any other night, Maty Cardenas would have slept with her feet at the end of the bed. However, on Thursday night she decided to sleep the other direction – and it may have saved her and her daughter’s life.

Her daughter, Benicia, happened to be sleeping with her that night. The bullet, slowed by the wall, headboard and pillow, didn’t even break the skin of the girl’s foot.

“God helped me,” Maty Cardenas said. “He protected my daughter and I.”

When she heard the gunshots, she said she immediately called 911. She later found the bullet.

Authorities said there was an argument in the residence to the west of the girl’s home when the shot was fired. The girl was examined at the scene and was found to have a very minor injury thanks to the obstacles the bullet traveled through. The girl was not transported to the hospital.

Investigators said the residents in the home where the shot originated did not respond to police commands to come out of the house. Officers then used a bullhorn, and eventually, six people exited the residence.

No arrests have been made yet, but Lassig said charges are likely to be filed.