Florida grandmother killed at home by apparent celebratory New Year's gunfire

[Zorro]

At least 11 people nationwide were documented as being accidentally shot during New Year’s Day celebrations this year.

The Kissimmee community started 2025 with heavy hearts after one of their own was killed at her home — apparently by a stray bullet fired to ring in the New Year.

The Police Department said in a news release Wednesday it believed Carmen Rosa Neira Ochoa, 56, was struck by a bullet from celebratory gunfire. Such needless tragedies occur every year, with celebratory gunfire also blamed this year for killing a 10-year-old girl in Miami-Dade County.

Neira Ochoa’s son-in-law, Alex Marquez, described the grandmother to WESH as the family’s matriarch.

“She was a hard-working mother, very caring,” Marquez said. “She went out of her way to help out anybody that was in need. She was all about her family. She would do anything to protect her family even me.”

https://www.tampabay.com/news/crime/2025/01/02/new-years-gunfire-florida-grandmother-killed/