Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) – There’s starting the new year off with a bang but one store in Lake Charles said the party may have gone too far after finding a bullet had pierced their ceiling.

“You hear about it happening all the time, but I didn’t expect it – I definitely didn’t expect it,” Style Encore Owner Stacey Buller said.

Coming back to work after New Year’s Eve, Buller said she noticed something in her store was not quite right.

“I noticed there was ceiling tile and insulation all on the floor, and my husband looked up and there was a bullet right here,” Buller said as she walked around her store.

But how did that bullet get there?

Right now, Buller’s best guess is that someone shot a gun into the air on New Year’s Eve.

“I viewed the cameras, and we think that it happened just a little short time after midnight,” Buller said. “But thankfully we were closed, everybody was safe.”

Buller said she’s thankful the bullet didn’t end up in someone’s house where things could’ve been much worse.

“We work in a neighborhood. Thankfully, the bullet came here after hours, rather than in one of our neighbors right next door or a kid popping fireworks or even Ryan Street or – even the interstate is right there. So, it could’ve hit a traveling vehicle – that would’ve really been horrible,” Buller said.

The Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office is investigating, and while no arrests have been made, they want you at home to know firing a gun in the air is not only dangerous, it’s also a misdemeanor. And if caught, those actions will have legal consequences.

Anybody caught firing a weapon into the air could face a fine of up to $1,000, up to two years in jail or both.

Written by Madison Glaser