Chris Joyce woke up early in the morning in the worst pain he had ever experienced.
He crawled out of bed and tried to massage out what he thought was a bad cramp. Then he saw the blood.
What Joyce didn’t know was that a 9mm bullet had traveled through the wall of his 2nd Avenue Centre apartment early July 9 and lodged itself in his left leg.
“You don’t jump to gunshot,” said Joyce, a 20-year-old political science and philosophy junior. He assumed it was an ordinary injury, maybe a scratch.
The wound bled through a dressing Joyce made from a First Aid kit. He called his father, a trauma surgeon in Punta Gorda, and wrapped a towel around his leg to try to stop the bleeding.
The pain didn’t subside, so he went to the infirmary at about 9 a.m.
After the first set of X-rays, doctors told Joyce they had to take some more scans because they found shrapnel in his leg. He was shocked.
Joyce was transferred to the emergency room at Shands at UF and questioned by a detective. Police would later take out a section of a wall to determine the type of bullet.
Joyce said Gainesville Police learned a security guard’s gun accidentally discharged in the room adjacent to Joyce’s.
The security officer confessed to police, but police withheld his name because the investigation is ongoing.
Joyce said he wasn’t planning on pressing charges and was undecided about any other legal action.
About a half hour after Joyce was shot, a security guard knocked on his door, asking about a noise. Joyce figured the guard just heard him scream.
Doctors said the bullet missed his important nerves, blood vessels and bones.
They left the bullet because it was embedded deep in the muscle.
Now, Joyce said, the process of recovery begins. He has since moved out of his apartment.
He said he was disappointed by the security guard’s delayed reaction to the shooting.
On July 13, 2nd Avenue Centre property manager Scott Orphan released this statement:
“Relating to an incident that occurred on 7/9/12 near 2nd Ave Centre, there were no employees or residents involved. The incident involved a security officer from One Global Security who accidentally discharged a firearm.”
Both Joyce and his 24-year-old sister, Elyse,are just glad he escaped with minor injuries.
“He definitely has a guardian angel in that room,” she said.
Chris Joyce, a 20-year-old political science and philosophy junior, poses for a portrait showing off his bullet wound July 23.
