With bullet in her head, girl's close call sends message to the trigger-happy

Forgive little Yamile Leon, whose favorite color is "rainbow," for still being in her pajamas at 11 a.m. Thursday. She was sleeping.

You might be, too, if you had a bullet in your head.

The 7-year-old has the slug from a .22-caliber bullet lodged under the skin just above her temple. She's the victim of a rather stupid act.

"They should catch these people and put them in jail for doing something like this," said her sister, Lupita Perez.

On holidays such as the Fourth of July and New Year's Eve, misguided revelers celebrate by firing weapons skyward. Sacramento police said someone fired a gun into the air on Tuesday and the bullet descended, striking Yamile while she was attending her uncle's soccer game at Nuevo Park.

"In a densely populated area, the odds of hitting somebody increase," said Officer Konrad Von Schoech. "We want people to enjoy their Fourth of July, but not engage in this behavior. Every year, somebody goes outside and shoots off a gun."

Despite her close call, Yamile is doing fine. In fact, she's one spunky kid, prone to talking a lot.

"Owww," Yamile said as her sister separated her hair from the entry wound scab.

Yamile is not averse to pulling a reporter's leg by telling him she is 18 years old. Asked to show a driver's license, she offered a page from her vocabulary workbook.

She's something of a media star. NBC's "Today" show called Thursday, and her sisters report she tried to extract money from a television reporter for an interview.

On the family front porch Thursday, sisters Lupita and Adilene Perez and their mother, Maria Calderon, smiled at the comments of Yamile (named for a Mexican film actor).

"I want to be a dentist with my sister Carmen," she announced.

Her family expects her to do well after surgery next Thursday to remove the slug. The family said doctors are waiting for the wound to heal a little.

Until then, Yamile will continue to play with her Bratz dolls inside the house with the overgrown rose bushes in a hardscrabble neighborhood near Norwood Avenue.

Police provided details of the incident, which occurred at the conclusion of her uncle's soccer game Tuesday at the park. At that time, Yamile complained of pain.

Family members thought maybe a rock, glass or perhaps a BB had hit her. They took her to the hospital. An X-ray revealed that the bullet is pointing downward, Von Schoech said.

"Luckily, it did not penetrate the skull," said police spokesman Von Schoech.

It is a crime to negligently discharge a firearm.

"And discharging a firearm into the air is negligent," Von Schoech said.

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