Man is charged, but not as a sniper...

[Jeff White]

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

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

 

[El Tejon]

I enjoyed the occassional bottle of liquid bread when I was 19 (special circumstances--sunsets, days ending in "y", inter alia). I was surrounded by guns. I never thought that enjoying liquid bread and stupidity with firearms went together for any reason.

Father needs to apply boot to backside in repeated and aggressive manner. Of course, this should have been done at age 10.

 

[Jeff White]

The back story:

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...7BEBEC4ABAC97825862570050012B020?OpenDocument

Police focus on party in highway sniping
By Matthew Hathaway
Post-Dispatch
05/18/2005

AND ROBERT KELLY
Of the Post-Dispatch
Police in Jefferson County narrowed their investigation in the Highway 30 sniper case on Tuesday, focusing on a house party held shortly before the gunfire erupted.

A 20-year-old House Springs man who attended the party has been identified by police as "a person of interest" and remained in custody Tuesday.


The man was arrested Monday night on unrelated outstanding traffic warrants. Police wouldn't call him a suspect. Jefferson County sheriff's Lt. Tommy Wright, who is heading a task force of local, state and federal investigators in the case, said police were now trying to find others who attended the party and might have knowledge of the incident.

A source in the prosecuting attorney's office said late Tuesday afternoon that a prosecutor had been assigned to the case but that police had not applied for charges.

No one was injured in the shooting incident, which started about 12:30 a.m. Sunday when a gunman fired shots from a bluff overlooking Highway 30 in northwest Jefferson County. Police responding to the incident were pinned down by gunfire for about two hours.

Meanwhile, the sniping incident worries some residents in a subdivision off Highway 30.

"I walk my dogs all the time, so it's kind of scary," said resident Lori Becker. "And my kids are upset because they're on lockdown at school."

Becker said she had four children at Northwest School District schools, where administrators have been keeping students indoors all school day until they are confident the sniper is in custody.

Becker said that her children were getting restless at school and that she was glad the school year ends Friday for Northwest students.

She said the sniper might have thought he was playing some type of strange game. "But they don't realize how seriously people react to these things," she said.

One of Becker's neighbors, Ron Pickles, said his two adolescent children were still worried that the sniper might be lurking in the neighborhood. "They're always asking me, 'Do you think he's back there in the woods?'" Pickles said.

Even so, Becker and Pickles said the incident hadn't kept them from doing things outdoors in the neighborhood.

Nearby at the Nassar Tire and Auto Service store on Highway W at Highway 30, Delores Ottomeyer was working at the desk. She said the sniping incident hadn't deterred business at the store.

"Actually, yesterday (Monday) was a busy day," Ottomeyer said. "It was busier than usual."

Tim Rowden of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

Reporter Matthew Hathaway
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 636-500-4108

Police scour hills for clues in sniper case
By Matthew Hathaway
Of the Post-Dispatch
05/17/2005

Investigators in Jefferson County combed the wooded hills of Byrnes Mill and scoured Highway 30 for spent bullets and shell casings Monday in their search for a sniper who fired at police and motorists early Sunday.

Sheriff Oliver "Glenn" Boyer said police had recovered what could be evidence left by the sniper, but he declined to offer specific details. Byrnes Mill police on Monday night said they had identified "a person of interest" but declined to give other details.

Also on Monday, the Northwest School District canceled all outdoor activities at its 11 schools in response to the shooting. The district announced it would move Monday's high school graduation ceremony from the football stadium to the school's gymnasium.

Lt. Tommy Wright said police were pursuing more than 20 leads in the case. Wright heads a task force of local, state and federal investigators that was formed Monday to investigate the shootings. They are looking for the sniper who for more than two hours shot at police and motorists, possibly firing as many as 25 rounds. When the shooting stopped, the gunman evaded police helicopters and slipped through a police dragnet into the rugged backcountry of northwest Jefferson County.

No one was injured in the incident, and the sniper who fired from a bluff overlooking Highway 30 failed to hit even a single vehicle. That has some police wondering whether the shooter purposely avoided causing injury or damage.

"He fired 15 to 25 rounds and didn't hit a person and didn't hit a vehicle. Why that it is, we simply don't know," Boyer said.

Capt. Ralph Brown of the Sheriff's Department said police used metal detectors and high-tech gear to comb the bluff and nearby woods for evidence, such as shell casings, unused ammunition and bits of clothing. He said police were reinterviewing witnesses and pursuing other leads. Byrnes Mill police briefly shut down Highway 30 Monday afternoon to allow crime scene technicians to inspect the area.

The sniper fired from wooded bluffs about 60 to 70 yards from the officers, from about 12:45 a.m. until about 2:15 a.m. Sunday. The incident began when a motorist reported to Byrnes Mill police that she saw what appeared to be a muzzle flash and thought she might have been fired upon as she was driving on Highway 30 near Betty Hill Drive.

Boyer said anyone who thinks they might have information about the shooting should call the department at 636-797-5526.

Robert Kelly of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

Reporter Matthew Hathaway
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 636-500-4108

 

[TallPine]

Doesn't take much to "pin down" those cops, does it ...?

 

[El Tejon]

Tall, those were wooded bluffs, you mean "pine down" the cops.

 

[MechAg94]

To call what that kid was doing "target practice" just seems insulting to me. Shooting ay trees and into the air is not target practice.

 

[TallPine]

Well, I guess if you shoot into the air, then you will probably hit it every time

 

[SLCDave]

Nearby at the Nassar Tire and Auto Service store on Highway W at Highway 30, Delores Ottomeyer was working at the desk. She said the sniping incident hadn't deterred business at the store.

"Actually, yesterday (Monday) was a busy day," Ottomeyer said. "It was busier than usual."

Was he shooting at tires?

 

[Standing Wolf]

Slow? That kid would have a hard time catching a cold.

 

[middy]

I don't get it. Why did they assume it was a sniper?

Is St. Louis really just an extension of Illinois nowadays?

The kid is a moron and so are all of his friends, but the police and citizens who overreacted to this are just pathetic.

 

[Derek Zeanah]

Does being classified as a "person of interest" mean they get to hold you without charges for longer than the typical 48-72 hours, and that they get to question you without the presence of your atty?

 

[Mikul]

Is it just me or does anyone else think that this is not the last time this useless piece of spittle will be inside of a courtroom? Outstanding traffic warrants (plural), shooting after midnight in a St. Louis suburb, and randomly shooting into the air to show off. Either someone puts a choker collar on him and uses it, or he's going be in and out of jail for his entire life.

 

[Joejojoba111]

I don't actally believe he fired at the helicopter, because they reported that he was unaware there was any problem. They also reported he was showing off marksmanship by firing at a tree. Also if he had fired at a helicopter, as they say, he would not be taken in on unrelated traffic problems. He'd be taken in for attempted murder, shooting at a helicopter, maybe police, and all that. Maybe they are embellishing the story to compensate for the insane over-reaction? "Shots fired shots fired!" "Where? what are yuo talkign about?" "I don't know, get down, snipers, run god damn it, I hear shots, oh my god (crap themselves) Oh my god they hit the chopper, god save us"

BTW alcohol and firearms are a bad mix, of course, but AFAIK there's no law against. Even if you were to drive a car on a public road during rush-hour you're alowed to have imbibed alcohol, that's why they have a gauge to see if you've gone over the limit.

Otherwise if you shoot and you're within the noise bylaws and your bullets don't leave your property, it doesn't seem like an issue for SWAT.

All in all shoddy reporting, judgement rendered before the trial, before the charges are even laid, if they even exist.

Looks like a typical scare-tactic Anti story, guns are bad, they're all crazy snipers.

 

[sm]

Does being classified as a "person of interest" mean they get to hold you without charges for longer than the typical 48-72 hours, and that they get to question you without the presence of your atty?

I was asking myself the same question.

 

[P95Carry]

On the face of it - thoughtless, reckless behavior. Something no one with a grasp on the four rules would (I hope) even entertain.

More than once over the years, I was tempted to take a crow out of a tree with a .22 - but did not - for fear of where the bullet would or could land if a miss - my final target was thus unknown.