A teenager was released from the hospital Saturday after recovering from being hit by a stray bullet during Miami Heat celebrations Thursday night.
Brandon Reid, 15, was shot in the head at his mother's Miramar home in the 2100 block of Sherman Circle North while visiting from Georgia.
"I remember the whole thing," Reid said. "It entered in the back right behind my ear."
Reid said he was glued to the TV Thursday night while watching the Miami Heat receive their second Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy in a row.
"I had got up to go wake up my mom as she told me to wake her up once the game was over, so I just turned the corner of the couch and I ended up being hit by, unfortunately, a bullet," said Reid. "At first, I thought it was a rock, but then I realized I had my hand behind my head and I saw blood."
Reid's little brother Daryl Denson, a die-hard Spurs fan, heard all the commotion.
"At first I thought he was playing a prank on me because the Heat won," said Denson. "Then when he got up I saw a hole in the back of his head. Man, my face was hysterical, I didn't know what to do."
Miramar police had received reports of gunshots in the area shortly after the Heat victory.
"I've talked to the police. He said it has to be at least a mile away," said Reid. "Someone was standing in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Then, like a champ himself with a 9 mm bullet lodged in his skull, Reid, who never lost consciousness, took control of the situation, like one of his basketball heroes often does on the hardwood to not only help himself, but others around him.
"I idolize Dwyane Wade," Reid said. "I then told my mom to call 911 because it was very serious. She couldn't even hold the phone so someone had to dial it for her."
By Saturday at Joe DiMaggio's Children's Hospital in Hollywood, only two days after the shooting, there were smiles, even jokes about Reid being a hard-headed kid, and talk of miracles filled his hospital room.
"I'm feeling great actually. After I went from the trauma care you can ask anyone who came to visit me I was all smiles," said Reid.
Reid's pediatric neurosurgeon said fortunately, the 9 mm bullet pierced the hardest part of the teen's skull, but if the bullet had hit an inch or two in any other direction, things could have been a lot different for him.
"If it had happened in an area a little higher fuller or thinner, or in his neck, he could have had a devastating outcome or death," said Dr. Dean Hertzler.
Reid now aspires to play professional basketball one day or become a doctor himself.
"I want to do, a field in zoology," Reid said.
Reid hopes his harrowing ordeal will help others be more responsible with guns.
"I hear it on the news all the time as well," said Reid. "I remember on the news a couple of years ago she passed away from an incident like this, but fortunately I survived."
"Hopefully, responsibility becomes one of their first priorities in life now and to celebrate," said Reid's dad. "So be smart."
One of this young athlete's next steps, after victoriously walking on his own after being discharged from the hospital Saturday afternoon, is to watch the Miami Heat victory parade on Monday.
"To be honest, I'll be there at the parade, but I actually want to be at my own parade!" Reid joked.