Confused woman starts gushing blood. Then Virginia deputies find bullet hole in wall

A dumbfounded woman said blood suddenly started squirting from her chest in the middle of the night, and investigators linked it to a stray bullet that pierced her wall, according to a Virginia sheriff.

The identity of the woman has not been released, but she remains hospitalized for a gunshot wound to the torso, according to Stafford County Sheriff David Decatur.

It’s believed the shot was fired by a neighbor around 12 a.m. Tuesday, April 30, officials said.

A 911 caller in the North Stafford area reported “she was bleeding a lot and was not sure what happened,” Decatur said. Stafford is about a 40-mile drive southwest of Washington, DC.

“Deputies quickly arrived and discovered the victim suffering from a gunshot wound to her torso,” he said in a news release.

“Upon further inspection of the scene, deputies noticed a bullet sized hole in the wall that directly lined up where the victim was standing in her kitchen. ... Deputies began administering first aid as Fire and Rescue arrived on scene.”

A suspect was discovered when deputies asked one of the neighbors if he heard any gunshots in the night. A 56-year-old man advised he had fired such a shot, while checking to see if a handgun was loaded, Decatur said.

“The bullet traveled through his garage and approximately 200 feet through the yards and (groups) of trees between the residences,” officials said.

“The bullet continued on a course through the siding, drywall and backsplash in the victim’s kitchen before striking a can the victim was holding and entering her torso.”

Deputies arrested the man and charged him with felony reckless handling of a firearm, officials said. Bond was set at $10,000.

The suspect lives in the 500 block of Graceview Lane, a two-lane residential street lined with single-family homes, records show.