TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW/Gray News) – A Salvation Army bell ringer was back on duty at the red kettle after being wounded by a stray bullet.
The man, Dennis Reese, was walking Monday night near S.W. 13th and Polk streets in central Topeka when he was wounded in the shoulder by a stray bullet, said Maj. Tom McDowell of the Topeka Salvation Army.
A “good Samaritan” saw Reese after he was injured and took him and his bicycle to a local hospital.
McDowell said Reese was treated, then released, from the hospital.
Reese is grateful that his injury wasn’t worse.
“I’m still in a little pain because the bullet went in and out of my shoulder,” Reese said. “I’m still alive. I guess when he hit me in the shoulder, he may have been aiming for my head. But it hit the shoulder. And I just want to give praise today for me still being alive today. Because our Heavenly Father is watching over me and watching over all of us.”
Undaunted, Reese was back ringing the Salvation Army’s bell for the organization’s Red Kettle campaign on Tuesday morning at the Dillons store at S.E. 29th and California Avenue.
WIBW reports additional information regarding an investigation into the shooting wasn’t immediately available.
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