He was minding his own business, packing the car. That’s when he was shot in the leg.

NEW FRANKLIN, OHIO. Terry Rigler and his wife Jill were loading their car with food to take to Terry’s mother’s house Sunday afternoon when they heard gunshots in the distance.

“We heard a big, really loud gunshot and I thought, ‘Oh, they’re shooting again,'” Rigler said. “Jill, for some reason, said, ‘The boy who seemed close.’

This wasn’t the first time the couple had felt bullets fly by; however, this time they never expected it.

The couple said they saw a bullet they believed came from the area behind their backyard hit the gravel road and ultimately hit Rigler in the leg.

“It felt like someone took a ball-head hammer and just hit me in the leg,” Rigler said. “It was just an intense, immediate blow.”

Rigler told News 5 the bullet narrowly missed an artery in his leg.

Photo courtesy of Jill Rigler

His doctor said he should make a full recovery.

Even though Rigler will be fine after the shooting, not everything is fine.

“It was quite traumatic. I’m still shaking from it,” Jill Rigler said. “You know, I had to go back into the house and get a towel and put pressure on it and I’m screaming for them to stop. And the neighbors heard me, so a bunch of neighbors came. I had to yell at them to come down.”

She said she was scared trying to make sure everyone was safe. The couple are gun owners themselves, but would like people to use common sense and follow the law.

“I am sure that no one directly tried to shoot me. But be responsible,” Terry Rigler said. “You know you have to have a reserve stock. You must shoot him. Be accountable and be responsible.”

New Franklin Detective Michael Hitchings told News 5 they would like the person who fired the shot to come forward. Hitchings said they could otherwise face a third-degree misdemeanor for negligent assault.

“If someone gets hit anywhere else in the chest or head, they’re going to die,” Hutchings said. We don’t want to see that from those involved in shooting.”

This is not the first time something like this has happened in Summit County. In 2022, a bullet pierced the window of a home in Northfield Center.

Residents worried about bullet hitting home

CONNECTED: Summit County neighbors hope target shooting will stop after bullet went through home window