The New Year got off to a deadly start in southeast Houston after a man was killed while watching fireworks with his wife in the front yard of their house. 
 
 Javier Rivera, left, was struck and killed by a stray bullet on New Year's Eve. (Photo: FAMILY PHOTO) 
 
 HOUSTON – The New Year got off to a deadly start in southeast Houston after a man was killed while watching fireworks with his family in the front yard of their house. 
 
 Detectives say a stray bullet struck 43-year-old Javier Rivera in the head just after midnight Thursday. He was standing next to his wife when he suddenly fell to the ground. 
 
 The victim's wife said she never heard the gunshot. 
 
 "I never could have imagined this would happen," Erica Rivera said. "He was standing right next to me and he fell." 
 
 "All of a sudden, my grandkids saw him falling backwards and he fell down and then he didn't move," said Gloria Patterson, a neighbor. "So my grandson, who is certified to CPR, went over and started CPR and stayed with him until the ambulance came. And he never regained any movement or anything." 
 
 Rivera, a father of three, died on the sidewalk in front of his family. 
 
 "I feel pretty angry about that because its pretty unsafe for everybody," said Charles Cain, a relative. 
 
 The New Year was off to a deadly start in southeast Houston after police say a man was killed while watching fireworks with his wife in the front yard of their house Wednesday night. (Photo: Metro) 
 
 Erica Rivera described the victim as a good husband and father who was always happy. 
 
 "He was smiling and laughing, you know, a nice person, just a hardworking man," said Cain. "Now we're gonna have to bury somebody this year, you know. Through God's help, that's how we are gonna get through it." 
 
 The bullet may have come from someone firing a gun to celebrate the New Year, according to the Houston Police Department. 
 
 "Just came out to watch the fireworks. So simple you know?" said Patterson. "I just feel so sorry for the family. My condolences to all the family. I'm so sorry it happened." 
 
 Police are hoping witnesses will come forward who saw people firing guns in the area. 
 
 "If people would just remember don't shoot guns. You know once it comes up, it's got to come down. I hope that this will be something that will help other people that will not do this in the future," Patterson said. 
 
 If you know anything, please call the Houston police. 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://www.khou.com/story/news/crime/2015/01/01/man-dies-after-being-hit-by-stray-bullet-in-the-head/21144655/ ||||| A man dropped dead while standing outside his southeast Houston home with his wife watching fireworks overnight.Police were called to the home on Eastlake Drive at Theta Street just after midnight. Officers were told someone had been shot by a stray bullet, but no one had any idea from where where it had come.When police arrived, they found a Hispanic male, identified by family as Javier Rivera, dead in the driveway. He had been shot in the head. Family told police they weren't firing any fireworks or weapons when it happened.Erika Rivera says her husband was standing right next to her on their driveway when he suddenly collapsed. It wasn't until she saw blood that she realized a stray bullet had struck him-instantly killing the father of 3."They'd come out from their home where they'd had a family gathering to see fireworks that were taking place further south of us here when she reported that her husband just fell to the ground," said Ramon Cervantes with the Houston Police Department. "She goes inside and calls for help and they find him dead here.""My grandson, who's certified in CPR, went over and started CPR and stayed with him until the ambulance came and he never regained any kind of movement or anything," neighbor Gloria Patterson said.Police say they will check reports and the surrounding area to see if there were any calls for service for people discharging firearms, Meanwhile, if you were in the area and heard shots being fired in the air at midnight, contact HPD.Rivera, 43, was the kind of guy everyone wanted to be around, his family says.Charles Cain, his brother-in-law, said, "(He was) just a nice person, just a hardworking man."If you would like to help the Rivera family with their funeral expenses, they have set up a GoFundMe page where you can send contributions.Family say they couldn't tell the difference between fireworks and bullets. It's a problem Houston Police have repeatedly warned the public about.HPD's Cervantes said, "Discharging a firearam. What goes up, must come down. It has to go somewhere it has to travel somewhere."Police say there is no telling where that stray bullet came from. The family just wants people to realize shooting guns into the air is no way to celebrate.
– A Houston man was standing outside his home watching New Year's fireworks just after midnight when he fell to the ground at his wife's side, dead of a bullet wound to the head, KTRK reports. "They'd come out from their home where they'd had a family gathering to see fireworks ... when she reported that her husband just fell to the ground," says a police rep. Police say the man may have been hit by a stray bullet from someone celebrating the New Year, KHOU reports; the family told police they weren't setting off fireworks or weapons at the time, and no one knows where the bullet might have come from. "If people would just remember don't shoot guns," says a local. "You know once it comes up, it's got to come down."