"What if it was someone else, like a little old lady in a little Suzuki, or a tourist? Or what if they'd shot head on? Anything could have happened. It was just lucky it was me in a big van."
There were no other vehicles around, and no people or houses to be seen, though there were a number of driveways in the area.
"I think it's just bored kids, taking out a slug gun and telling their parents they're going hunting," he said.
If that turned out to be the case, he urged parents to keep tabs on where their children were and what they were up to.
He had notified the police, who were taking the incident seriously. They planned to visit him, to photograph the van and take away the pellet.
Mr Atkinson's partner, Jordan Daniel, shared photos of the shot-out window on a Northland Facebook page to warn others to be vigilant.
She was later contacted by a woman who said her son-in-law had also been shot at on Puketi Rd, just before Christmas.
The pellet had shattered the car's rear left window and lodged in a child's car seat at head height. No children were in the car at the time.
That incident was not reported to police at the time.
