Twenty-year-old Josh DeMeritt said someone must have been watching over him Tuesday when a stray bullet struck him in the head but left him uninjured.

ROCHESTER — Twenty-year-old Josh DeMeritt said someone must have been watching over him Tuesday when a stray bullet struck him in the head but left him uninjured.



The bullet was accidentally fired across the street by Corey Field, 25, of 16 Leonard St., who reportedly was trying to clear a handgun at his home when the weapon fired, causing the bullet to travel into the bedroom where DeMeritt was sitting, at 15 Leonard St.



DeMeritt, of Rochester, said he was sitting in bed playing video games at his friend's house when he saw plaster and paint fly across the room.



“I didn't even realize it was a bullet,” said DeMeritt.



He said he felt the bullet hit the top of his head, though he was not injured at all.



Police say because the bullet traveled through several walls and windows, it lost momentum by the time it struck DeMeritt.



After getting hit, DeMeritt first thought someone threw an object at him, but then realized no one else was home at the time.



For DeMeritt, who spent seven months in the Marine Corps, his training kicked in, and he spent several minutes checking each room, making sure no one was there and staying away from windows and doors.

It was only after his friend's mom came home shortly after the shooting that they inspected the apartment and confirmed a bullet was fired, DeMeritt said.



The bullet, he said, “went from the apartment across the street, through their wall, through two panes of glass, through a set of Christmas lights, through a curtain, through a wall, and out the other side of the wall, where it hit me.”



Looking back at the shooting incident, DeMeritt said he was fortunate not to be hurt.



“I was being watched over,” he said.



Since the incident, friends DeMeritt hasn't seen in years have been reaching out to him after hearing his story through local media outlets. Some people even created memes on Facebook about DeMeritt surviving a bullet strike to the head.



The copper bullet, about an inch long, was taken by the Police Department as evidence. DeMeritt said he hopes to get the bullet back as a souvenir after the investigation is complete.



After the incident, Field was charged with two felonies — reckless conduct for allegedly firing the handgun and placing others in danger and falsifying physical evidence for allegedly hiding the firearm in a snowbank after the shooting.

Field is free on personal recognizance bail and his probable cause hearing is scheduled for Jan. 22.