HIGH POINT, N.C. — It's simple science, really: what goes up, must come down.
We're talking about celebratory gunfire. It's something we see all over the Triad every Fourth of July but officials with High Point Police are urging against it.
"It just comes down to it being unacceptable behavior," Lt. Matt Truitt stated.
Lt. Truitt with said his department was so busy last Fourth of July with all the fireworks and gunfire calls, about 20 more officers will work this holiday.
"It's a direct result of that. They really just got overwhelmed to be honest with you, the call volume was extremely high."
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At least two officers respond to every call, whether they think it's gunfire or fireworks.
"That ties up a bit of people, the average time officers are on scene is 32 minutes. That’s why we’re going to have an additional 21 people out there answering calls to assist with the anticipated call volume."
July 4, 2020 proved to be very chaotic in High Point.
Last year police confirmed a juvenile was struck in the face by a firework on his front porch. Also a stray bullet went up, and came back down into the window of a child's bedroom. Luckily no one was hurt.
Officers responded several times to one neighborhood that ended up setting off this huge pile of illegal fireworks over a range of hours.
"There's a few thousand dollars worth of fireworks there, that were definitely not purchased in North Carolina."
Lt. Truitt said enough is enough.
"This is an issue that continues each year to get out of hand and it's not going to be tolerated in 2021."
Truitt said the dangers of celebratory gunfire are obvious.
"If you think about the actual wording – celebratory gunfire – it's an oxymoron really it just doesn’t go together because what one's idea of celebratory gunfire can be, can turn into another one’s tragedy as we've seen locally and nationally."
He said fireworks can be equally as hazardous.
"They come back down sometimes smoking and embers can land on leaves, roofs, anything and you can start a fire."
He wants people to have fun, but safely and lawfully.
"That is illegal in city of High Point that’s a city ordinance violation. Not only fireworks, there’s gunfire and that’s a criminal offense not just a city code ordinance."