Originally posted on Newsvine.com, Nov. 3, 2008.

By E.J. Rotert

PACIFIC, Mo. -- Police still say a drive-by shooting more than a month ago resulted in no one being hit by gunfire.

Tell that to Larry Armistead.

Armistead, of Pacific, said last week that six bullet fragments still remain lodged in his head because they're too risky for physicians to remove. Additional fragments from the bullet were removed from his left forearm and the rear of his right shoulder, he said. The bullet broke apart when it hit the rearview mirror of the car he was sitting in, he said.

"They (police) said if it hadn't been for the rearview mirror it would have blown my brains out," said Armistead, 35, of Pacific, who was in the vehicle's passenger seat when the bullet came through the car's windshield.

Of the shooter, whom he said was a male in a hooded sweatshirt, he added: "He was aiming to shoot me. I was who he was intending to kill."

Pacific police have told reporters on at least three occasions that no one was hit by gunfire. An investigation into the case is ongoing.

Police Chief Jim Brune said Monday that police have at least one suspect in the crime and believe to know the motive, but declined to specify details.

The shooting occurred in the 100 block of East Orleans Street at approximately 1:10 a.m. on Sept. 29, a Monday, a police press release says.

Armistead, his half-brother, Nathan Schindler, and a third person, the driver, were in the car, a mid-1990s Lincoln Town Car, when it was shot with a .38-caliber pistol, say the brothers. They said the shot came from a small sports car with tinted windows that was painted black and a glittery, burnt-orange color.

Both declined to name the driver of the Town Car, as have police in an incident report on the shooting. The driver was injured by flying glass and was treated at the scene. Armistead was taken to St. John's Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur, he said, where he remained two days.

The press release from police says a single bullet passed through the car's windshield and lodged in the rearview mirror. "Any injuries sustained appear to be from broken glass and not from the projectile itself," the press release reads.

Brune last confirmed on Oct. 13 that no one was struck by the bullet. But Armistead said a police detective had come to the hospital the day after the shooting and talked to both he and medical staff. He said he also signed over his medical records three days later to police.

Armistead showed a reporter corroborating paperwork from St. John's hospital on his injuries.

Brune agreed to release the incident report documenting the shooting, but only after sections of the report were blocked out in black ink. About 30 percent of the report is rendered unreadable.

The report says the driver of the damaged vehicle said he had driven to the Pacific Moto Mart convenience store to buy a pack of cigarettes. While returning, the driver observed a car following behind him. He then parked his vehicle in front of an ice cream shop on South First Street. While the car was sitting there, the other vehicle pulled alongside. The handgun was pointed out a window and fired.

Schindler said he recalls hearing two shots.