Teen-Ager’s ‘Blistering Headache’ Gives Doctors at Hospital Surprise

A teen-ager spent 18 hours not knowing he had the projectile from a pellet gun stuck in his head, police said Monday.

Dong Tran, 17, learned he had been shot only when he went to the hospital to check out the cause of his headache Sunday.

He said he was walking home from a friend’s house Halloween night when he felt something hit him in the head.

“The next day, he woke up with a blistering headache, so his parents finally took him to Santa Teresa Hospital,” police spokesman Dwight Messimer said.

Surprised doctors removed one pellet, about half the size of a .22-caliber bullet, that was partly embedded in the boy’s skull, and he was released in good condition, Messimer said.

“It hit him on the forehead above his right eyebrow,” Messimer said, adding that if the pellet had struck a little lower it could have cost the teen-ager an eye.

Doctors confirmed that the wound was superficial.

Police said they had no suspects.