Arkansas man says stray bullets pierced the walls of his Springfield hotel room

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) - A man visiting from Arkansas says gunshots ripped through his Springfield hotel room narrowly missing him and his daughter.

“It’s terrible. I can’t even go to Springfield and enjoy the day with my daughter without worrying about getting shot,” said Russell Deluna.

He says an overnight trip to Springfield nearly ended in disaster when shots rang out from a disturbance in a nearby parking lot located off South Campbell Avenue near the corner of Sunset.

“I heard two bangs which didn’t sound like a gun but I knew it was. I didn’t want to get out of bed. I was nervous about standing up and possibly getting shot,” he said.

But Deluna did get out of bed and was surprised to learn that stray bullets had pierced the walls of the hotel room.

He said, “I saw that the floor was really dirty. A lot of sheetrock dust was all over. I turned around and looked into the bathroom. You could see the bullet holes. I was kind of scared. It was literally 6 feet from my daughter.”

Deluna says a bit of panic set in as he tried to figure out what was going on.

“I told everybody about it. I called the cops. I told the hotel workers. I don’t know what I expected the hotel workers to do but they just all seemed hardened, like it didn’t bother them. They’re used to it,” he explained.

Springfield Police says the investigation of the incident is active and could not comment but did release this statement that says:

During investigations, detectives use many resources from interviews with witnesses and crime scene evidence to video surveillance and other information. A thorough investigation does take time to complete.

“Before I even went to bed I saw that they were partying outside. Honestly, I had a gut feeling that something bad was going to happen,” said Deluna.

He says he’s not sure his family will soon visit Springfield.

“My daughter is supposed to go to college up there. But I don’t know if I’m ever going to let her go up there after this whole experience. It’s sad because you got kids they need to move out and move on with their lives but the way the world is going I don’t want her to leave,” he said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Springfield Police Department.

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