Wayne County Sheriff urges people to avoid celebratory gunfire as they ring in 2022 this New Year

Detroit community leaders remind people not to celebrate New Year with gunfire

The Ring in the New Year With a Bell, Not a Bang campaign encourages people not to fire their weapons to celebrate 2022. The campaign started after a Detroit grandmother was killed by a stay bullet in 1996.

DETROIT (FOX 2) - After a Detroit grandmother was killed by a stray bullet while ringing in the New Year in 1996, community leaders come together to urge people to avoid celebratory gunfire.

"I don't know what the thought is. They shoot a weapon, and they just think, oh the bullet is just going to disappear. No, it's coming down," Wayne County Sheriff Raphael Washington said.

The Ring in the New Year With a Bell, Not a Bang campaign encourages people not to fire their weapons. This message has been pushed for almost 25 years.

"It comes down on a structure, it can penetrate a structure. It comes down, it hits a window, it can go inside a home and hit someone, causing injury or death. We just need people to think about that," Washington said.

Rev. Nicholas Hood III has been delivering the campaign message for years and says he is proud of its success.

"We have not had a killing, a murder, due to celebratory gunfire in Detroit since 1996," Hood said.