Spectator at Georgia Dome hit by stray bullet

<p>A spectator at the Georgia Dome was injured by a stray bullet, which apparently came through the roof of the stadium after being fired into the air.</p><p>The incident happened during the Peach Bowl game on New Year's Eve.</p><p>Georgia Dome officials believe Merritt Tidwell, 18, was struck below her right knee by a bullet that was probably fired by someone in the area who shot a gun in the air to celebrate the new year.</p><p>Tidwell, a University of Georgia freshman from Douglasville, was sitting four rows up from the 10-yard line with a group of friends when she felt a burning sensation in her right leg during the second quarter of the Miami-Florida game, said Tina Eden, 44, who was with Tidwell.</p><p>Tidwell noticed a hole in her jeans and blood trickling from a wound in her leg.</p><p>"I didn't know if it was a nail butting out of the seat in front of her, or maybe it was glass from a bottle that someone had thrown," Eden said.</p><p>Employees at the stadium bandaged Tidwell's wound and she was then taken by friends to a hospital in Fayette County. There, an X-ray showed a 9 mm bullet in her leg.</p><p>Three years ago, a stray bullet grazed another attendee at the Peach Bowl in a similar incident.</p><p>"It's a freak thing, and my God, if we can prevent it, we would," Georgia Dome spokeswoman Katy Pando said Tuesday. "But the roof of the Dome is like a great big thick canvas. It's not like a regular roof."</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1a7b118)</p>

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