A 33-year-old was back home Wednesday after he was grazed by a bullet on New Year's Eve. It happened in the 2400 block of NW 32nd Avenue.
Miami Police said Eyner Melendez, 33, was grazed by the bullet. Melendez said he was celebrating with his family when he felt something hit his arm.
"Mucho sangre," said Melendez.
Melendez was celebrating 2013 and the first birthday of his son on New Year's Eve, when he said he felt something hit his arm. A bullet had fallen form the sky and sliced through his skin.
"Does it hurt?" Local 10's Ross Palombo asked.
"Yes!" said Melendez.
Melendez said gunfire in Nicaragua is a New Year's Eve tradition.
"So, you're not mad?" asked Palombo.
"No," answered Melendez.
Sulman Galdamez, Melendez's wife, was holding a torn shirt that she now believes is a sacred souvenir. It was the safe ending to a shooting that the family sees as a sign from God.
"I was scared! Very nervous," said Galdamez.
She said she saw it happen and saw that it safely missed her husband's head and vital organs.
"It's close to the heart, you see?" said Galamez
It also missed the very spot where Melendez usually carries his son on his arms.
"You know, all the time, he carries him here. Thank God he wasn't with the baby," said Galdamez.
Witnesses and police said no one saw where it came from and nobody is sure why it happened here.
"Why you have to shoot somebody, only to celebrate New Year's? It's stupid," said Rudy Aponte, who witnessed the shooting.
Melendez knows his survival may just be dumb luck, but he believes it is actually divine providence.
God, his family says, stopped the bullet to bring him safely to a New Year.
"Lucky, God saved him!" Galdamez said.