Kaitlyn Kong, 22, had surgery Tuesday on her abdomen to remove the bullet and repair damage to her lung, diaphragm and stomach.
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"I grabbed my ribs and saw blood so we called 911 and got help with EMS, got in an ambulance and went to WakeMed," Kong said in a Facebook post after the shooting.
Kong detailed feeling a sharp pain in her ribs minutes after the acorn dropped.
"I didn't want to believe it -- who gets shot downtown watching the acorn drop? I never expected to see someone shooting a gun in the air and it dropping down on people," Jeffrey Kong, Kaitlyn's dad told ABC11.
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Kong is expected to be in the hospital for at least a week.
"It's been very stressful: you don't expect that. Somebody could have easily gotten killed, had an eye taken out, could've went through her heart," Jeffrey Kong said. "It just perforated the corner of her lung, went through her stomach and bounced out and around somehow and missed all the other organs. It's amazing."
First Night Raleigh released this statement: "We are aware of the incident that occurred last night in downtown and understand it to be an ongoing RPD investigation."
Anyone with information that might assist the investigation of this incident is asked to call Raleigh CrimeStoppers at (919) 834-HELP or visit raleighcrimestoppers.org for text and email reporting options. CrimeStoppers pays cash rewards for anonymous tips that help solve cases.