ELMORE COUNTY, Idaho — A father is speaking out after what should have been a routine drive on Interstate 84 turned into a nightmare when a stray bullet grazed his young daughter's head.
Ryan Cox was driving with his wife and daughter in Elmore County on Saturday when their windshield was suddenly hit by what they would later learn was a bullet from a nearby target shooter.
"It all happened so fast. The noise was very disorienting. My initial thought was that it was some sort of rock or sharp object thrown from another car."
Watch as Ryan Knox recounts the moments after the bullet went through the windshield:
The terrifying scene unfolded quickly as Cox realized both his wife and daughter were bleeding.
"I turned around and saw my wife with the blood down her arm, looked at my daughter in the backseat, who is in the car seat in the middle, and she has her hand on her head and she's got blood dripping down and on her hand," Cox said.
The child was transported to St. Luke's Boise with what officials described as minor injuries.
Related: Child injured by stray bullet while riding in car on I-84 in Elmore County
Investigators later determined the stray bullet came from a nearby individual who was target shooting in the area. The Elmore County Sheriff's Office says charges have been filed against the person responsible, though Cox noted on social media that the shooter was not arrested at the time of the incident.
LISTEN: 911 call moments after Cox's daughter was grazed by bullet.
As the reality of what happened sank in, Cox's concern turned to anger.
"The anger started creeping in – the anger that somebody is playing with their firearm in an unsafe way. Even the possibility of something like this happening is a tragedy," he said.
Cox hopes the incident serves as a wake-up call about responsible firearm use.
"I think mainly I would hope that they understand the gravity of the situation and the butterfly effect is very, very real and substantial in this scenario. That one round has set off a whole chain of events of stuff that I wouldn't of had to do otherwise," Cox said.
Elmore County Sheriff Mike Hollinshead echoed these concerns, reminding recreational shooters to always shoot in a safe direction and know their backdrop, adding that the "incident could have ended much worse due to negligence."
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