A 19-year-old woman from Kerala was killed in the United States on Monday in a freak accident in Alabama’s Montgomery. According to reports, 19-year-old Mariam Susan Mathew was sleeping at home when a stray bullet pierced through the ceiling and hit her.

Mariam Susan Mathew was the daughter of Boban Mathew, who hailed from Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district, and Vincy. On Monday night, when the family was fast asleep, a bullet was fired from the upper floor, and penetrated the ceiling of her residence in Montgomery and struck her. Reports say that her parents, who were also sleeping, woke up hearing a noise in the night, but went back to sleep as they thought nothing happened. In the morning, when Susan did not come out of the room, they went to check on her but found her in a pool of blood in her room. She was declared dead at 8.30 am.

According to the police, the bullet may have come through the ceiling, as there was a hole in the ceiling which could have been made by the bullet. The police are also looking at other angles and an investigation is underway. No arrests have been made yet.

Susan is survived by her parents, who hail from Pathanamthitta district in Kerala. The family came from Muscat five months ago, but Mariam was in the US to complete her high school education. She had been preparing to continue her further studies in the country.