Amherst Co., VA- Running a bridal shop probably isn't on the list of most dangerous jobs. But Friday, the owner of Budget Bridal in Amherst came very close to being shot in her store.
It wasn't a robbery, but for Anna Martin, it was still pretty scary. Even though she's keeping a sense of humor about the whole thing, she's still shocked it happened.
She was alone in her store when, out of the blue, one of the front windows shattered. It wasn't until later, when she found the bullet holes--she realized how lucky she had been.
In the past, the most dangerous part of Anna Martin's job was dealing with Bridezillas.
"The cop asked me was it a Bridezilla on the loose by chance," said Martin.
But these days, she has a little more to be afraid of.
"Yeah, that's definitely a bullet, and of course I started shaking instantly and started freaking out," she said.
A bullet tore straight through her bridal shop. It shattered a window.
"It sounded like beads dropping on the floor," said Martin.
Then the bullet ripped right through a wall.
"It came out, and ricocheted off of the wall, and landed in the floor," she said.
Martin says the Sheriff's Department ruled it a freak hunting accident. They say a stray bullet found its way out of the trees, over the street, and into a dressing room.
"Bullets have to land somewhere and they ultimately go far distances, so people need to be really aware of where they're shooting and what's potentially behind," Martin said.
Martin is worried about the safety of the businesses around her now.
"It's scary because we're in a populated area, we're in a business section and somebody's shooting a gun within 300 yards of this," she said.
She says if something like this happened once, it could happen again.
"It's a little bit of an eye opener that anything can happen in a heartbeat."
Martin says the Amherst County Sheriff's Department is conducting an investigation on the accident to find out exactly where the bullet came from. We weren't able to get in touch with investigators to confirm that. But, one thing we do know for sure, Martin is a very lucky woman.
