Woman's bra, seat belt stop bullet

'She's very lucky. You know, we're just glad that she came out OK' --St. Petersburg Times

TAMPA - Here's another reason to wear a seat belt.

Sheriff's deputies say Robin Key's seat belt helped save her from serious injury by deflecting a bullet when two men shot into her family's van Sunday evening.

"It's kind of surreal," she said. "Like you're in a dream, but you can't quite figure out what you've gone through."

Key, 44, and her husband, Donald, 44, of Riverview, were headed home after his band's gig at Jimmy B's Beach Bar on St. Pete Beach.

They were stopped at a red light at Boyette Road and U.S. 301 in Riverview. Mrs. Key was sitting in the front passenger seat. She asked her husband about a lyric book she was putting together.

Suddenly, they heard what sounded like an explosion. Mrs. Key figured something had happened to the van's engine. Then she saw a bullet hole in the windshield. She started to speak, but there were shards of glass on her lips.

She felt a searing pain in her shoulder.

She turned to her husband.

"I think I've been shot," she said.

"He said, 'Who would have shot you?' " she remembers.

"I have no idea," she told him. "I was just sitting here with you, honey."

She touched her shoulder and figured out she wasn't badly hurt. It seemed her seat belt and the thick straps on her bra deflected the bullet, deputies say. She found the .38-caliber bullet's copper jacket on her leg.