Man prepares to run 100-plus miles in Florida after surviving gunshot to head
After surviving a gunshot to the head, he’ll run 100+ miles
Twenty-four-year-old Andrew Martins is from New Jersey, but he made West Palm Beach, Florida, his home in 2025.
A celebration with friends to ring in 2026 started off normally at a restaurant in North Palm Beach — until what he calls a defining moment right after the clock struck midnight.
“It had to have been a couple minutes right after the ball dropped … And I was in, like, a moment of solitude. I wasn’t talking to anyone,” Martins said. “I was kind of just existing and suddenly felt this quick, hot flash just pour down on me. And at first, I had no idea what it was.”
Martins had been shot in the head.
“I heard a gunshot,” he said.
He said he kept touching the back of his head and realized he was covered in blood.
Martins said that when first responders saw the perfectly sized bullet hole in his hat, they immediately knew it was a gunshot. They found the bullet nearby.
He said they eventually determined it was likely celebratory gunfire, but they were never able to confirm it.
After being rushed to the hospital, Martins survived the ordeal with only five staples in his head and no need for surgery.
“I remember the way that I was standing and the way that my head was turned,” Martins said. “In that exact moment, the way my body was positioned and my head was positioned allowed it to be so clean and so divine … Whereas, I know if I was looking straight up, it would have gone right through my head. And I’ve had to reflect on that.”
Martins said he now feels alive, blessed and well.
“Felt like a duty to do something,” he said.
That something is running more than 100 miles around Lake Okeechobee to raise money for Urban Youth Impact, a nonprofit private school in West Palm Beach that serves inner-city youth for free.
Martins said he used to live on the same road as the school and would pass it every day.
“And it’s crazy because it was, like, the ultimate foreshadowing,” Martins said.
The school benefits the community by providing various programs, counseling and after-school care at no cost to families.
Although Martins estimates the run could take between 28 and 35 hours, he said he and the friends joining him will be in no rush to finish.
His goal is to spread awareness about the work the school is doing in the community — and to be a light.
“I wanted to be a vehicle for something greater than myself,” Martins said.
Martins will undertake the run next month. To donate, visit UrbanYouthImpact.com or the Perimeter Project’s website.
