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ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI) -Year after year we hear the warnings about shooting of guns to celebrate a new year.

A St. Louis County Police officer is sharing an audio recording of celebratory guns going off last year in north St. Louis County. It's downright scary. The officer who recorded it on his cellphone said he felt like he was driving through a war zone.

The audio is about three minutes long. It was taken last year by a St. Louis County Officer in the Dellwood Precinct while he was patrolling on New Year's Eve 2015. The shots weren't just contained to one specific area.

St. Louis County Police are reminding people not to fire their guns in the air to celebrate the start of 2017.

The obvious danger is that someone could get hit by a falling bullet which can travel miles away.

"Gravity works and bullets come straight down so you can't control where those land,” said Sgt. Shawn McGuire, Public Information Coordinator for the St. Louis County Police Department.

Police say last year so many people shot off guns ringing in 2016 that it took St. Louis County crime scene investigators 4 days to catch up on all the police reports of damaged property from the shots fired on New Year's Eve.

No one died from those shots and police want 2017 off to a peaceful start.

“Just have fun be safe don't use guns for those nights,” said McGuire. “We don't want anyone getting hurt over something like that.”

McGuire adds that if anyone sees or hears gunfire, to get as much detail about the person firing shots and report the information to police.

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