More proof that some people shouldn't be allowed access to anything they could hurt someone with. Or alcohol and firearms don't mix....Or immature teenagers, alcohol and firearms don't mix....Outstanding traffic warrants...Not one of the gun culture's bright and shining moments here :banghead: We really need to try to do a better job of policing our own....
Jeff
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...7B60F104AA77E0D186257006005222EB?OpenDocument
Jeff
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...7B60F104AA77E0D186257006005222EB?OpenDocument
Man is charged, but not as a sniper
By Tim Rowden and Matthew Hathaway
Of the Post-Dispatch
05/19/2005
The Highway 30 sniper who pinned down police in Jefferson County for more than two hours over the weekend was actually a drunken teenager shooting into the air and at trees, police said Wednesday.
Donald Christie, 19, of House Springs, was charged Wednesday with unlawful use of a weapon. Police allege he fired a gun into a tree behind his parents' home near Highway 30 and fired at least one shot into the air while a police helicopter investigating the shootings was overhead.
No one was injured in the incident, but it prompted fears among motorists and nearby residents, who worried that a gunman might be on the loose.
"There is no sniper, and we feel comfortable in saying that," said Jefferson County Sheriff Oliver "Glenn" Boyer. "Everyone is safe to drive through that area and conduct whatever business they would normally be conducting."
Boyer said that instead of a sniper targeting police and motorists from a hidden perch, the suspect was trying to show off his marksmanship.
Boyer said Christie, of Mockingbird Lane in House Springs, was attending a party hosted by his 17-year-old sister, on Glendale Court near Highway 30, while their parents were out of town.
The shooting began about 12:30 a.m. Sunday, when, police said, Christie took a rifle belonging to his father into the back yard and began shooting at trees and into the air. The house is near a bluff overlooking Highway 30.
Boyer described the scene as "a drunken teenage party that got out of hand."
Boyer said Christie and others at the party were periodically wandering out of the house to watch Christie fire the gun, then going back inside to continue the party.
It is unclear whether Christie was even aware - at the time of the shooting - of the confusion his target practice was causing on nearby Highway 30.
A task force of local state and federal investigators was organized Monday to look into the incident. Investigators began focusing on the party after a relative of one of the teens in attendance called police.
Christie was arrested Monday night on unrelated outstanding traffic warrants.
Byrnes Mill Police Chief Ed Locke, one of the officers who responded to the shooting, said he hoped prosecutors would pursue the case vigorously. Locke said police had received complaints before about shots being fired in the area.
"Whatever he was trying to do, we certainly didn't take it as a joke," Locke said. "The consequences could have been horrific."
Reporter Tim Rowden
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 636-500-4110