Malaysian student Eric Gan was fast asleep at 4 am on a Sunday morning when he was suddenly awoken by some loud banging sounds outside his Fresno, California apartment. While he first thought he was the victim of a break-in, it wasn't until later that he discovered that his apartment was the backdrop to a shooting outside – five bullets had lodged themselves firmly within his living space.
Image credits: ericgan98
One bullet had gone through Eric's bedroom wall, ending up in his ceiling. Another, lower bullet would've ended up inches from his bed while he slept, but was stopped by the hardy construction of his MSI gaming monitor. Remarkably, the heroic monitor was still functioning even after taking the shot. Eric took to Twitter to share his experience, where he gave a shoutout to MSI for making such a resilient product. “House just got shot by random stranger from the street,” he wrote. “Msi monitor got hit and blocked the bullet and still functioning. What a day.. shout out to @msiUSA.”
Giving an update on the situation, Eric said that he had spoken to Fresno police, and it would appear that the shooting was not targeted. They were merely the unfortunate backdrop to a random neighborhood shooting incident. It could've ended so much worse!
Image credits: ericgan98
Image credits: ericgan98
Image credits: ericgan98
Image credits: ericgan98
Image credits: ericgan98
After Eric's tweets went viral, they eventually reached MSI themselves. They were only to happy to offer a replacement monitor to Eric, as well as donate money for retweets to an anti-violence charity. “To all gamers, we appreciate all your blessings to @ericgan98 his survival after random gunfire,” they wrote. “With Eric’s encouragement, now, MSI promises to donate $1 for every retweet this tweet receives up to $10K towards anti-violence charity. #BulletProofMonitor.”
Image credits: msitweets
Image credits: ericgan98
Image credits: msitweets
Image credits: ericgan98
Image credits: ericgan98
"My housemates and I will be moving out of this apartment after this semester," Eric told Bored Panda. "My family back in Malaysia was really worried about the situation, being targeted for the shooting. The police told us later that it was just an unlucky event caused by a random shooting, and my parents felt a little better after getting that statement from the officer."
"My parents are happy for me to stay on everywhere on this planet as long as I am safe. It's the first time I experienced gunshots in my life, hence the reason why I wasn’t aware I was being shot because I have never heard gunshots before. Malaysia has strict gun laws!
If you are a gamer and want to check out Eric's stream, you can do so here.
Here's how people reacted to the bizarre incident
