A bullet grazed a child's neck outside of a South Austin Torchy's restaurant Saturday afternoon, Austin-Travis County EMS said.
ATCEMS reported that the 9-year-old boy was outside of the Torchy's located at 4301 W. William Cannon Drive when a bullet came from above and grazed his neck.
"It's a good part of Austin," said the boy's mother, Kimberly Smith. "Like, you would never thought there's bullets flying in the air anywhere in this area, and then just -- I mean we were just walking and suddenly -- it completely off-coursed our entire day."
Smith said she did not hear gunfire but did hear the bullet flying through the air. She suspects the bullet came from a nearby neighborhood.
"I hear this whistling and I think someone's just whistling, and then I get hit in the neck," said the boy, Miles Kennedy. "It feels like something just slapped me in the neck. But then it stings, so I think it's a bee sting."
His father, Vance Kennedy, said he now feels the urge to be more protective.
"You wouldn't think that you'd be walking through a public area and bullets are flying through, so now it definitely ... it raises my awareness that I feel like I need to keep him as close as possible to me," Kennedy said.
Officials said the boy suffered minor injuries and was taken and released from the Dell Children's Medical Center. They could not release any immediate details on if they were searching for a suspect.