Fred Fuller
Moderator Emeritus
http://www.newsobserver.com/158/story/430406.html
Apr 20, 2006 02:03 AM
Cumberland sheriff's office closes firing range (NC)
The Associated Press
The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office has closed a firing range because a hillside that was supposed to act as a barrier has shifted, allowing bullets to hit several nearby houses.
The firing range was built on an old landfill and the waste has settled over time, causing the hillside to shift, said Debbie Tanna, a sheriff's spokeswoman.
The sheriff's office closed the range as soon as deputies learned that shots fired by school resource officers from the sheriff's office had hit three homes April 11, she said. It won't reopen until the homes can be protected, she said.
John Parrott came home that afternoon to find detectives, along with his neighbor, looking at a dime-sized hole in the siding of his house.
A second bullet hit the house next door to Parrott, and a third hit the garage of a house across the street.
No people were hit.
Parrott was upset at first, saying: "I spent two tours in Vietnam. And I'm going to come back here and get shot in my own house?"
He said his anger subsided after deputies explained what happened and offered to pay for damages.
The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners voted in January to build a training center, complete with an indoor firing range, for the sheriff's office.
One bullet is still lodged in the siding of the home of James Oliver, who says commissioners should have acted earlier.
"If they had approved this at a sooner date, we wouldn't be talking about this right now," he said, adding that he was pleased with the response of the sheriff's office.
He's also glad no one was hurt - the bullet that hit his house is lodged next to his daughter's bedroom window.
"Property damage, that can be repaired, no big deal," Oliver said. "But as far as a human life, that's something you just can't fix."
Apr 20, 2006 02:03 AM
Cumberland sheriff's office closes firing range (NC)
The Associated Press
The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office has closed a firing range because a hillside that was supposed to act as a barrier has shifted, allowing bullets to hit several nearby houses.
The firing range was built on an old landfill and the waste has settled over time, causing the hillside to shift, said Debbie Tanna, a sheriff's spokeswoman.
The sheriff's office closed the range as soon as deputies learned that shots fired by school resource officers from the sheriff's office had hit three homes April 11, she said. It won't reopen until the homes can be protected, she said.
John Parrott came home that afternoon to find detectives, along with his neighbor, looking at a dime-sized hole in the siding of his house.
A second bullet hit the house next door to Parrott, and a third hit the garage of a house across the street.
No people were hit.
Parrott was upset at first, saying: "I spent two tours in Vietnam. And I'm going to come back here and get shot in my own house?"
He said his anger subsided after deputies explained what happened and offered to pay for damages.
The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners voted in January to build a training center, complete with an indoor firing range, for the sheriff's office.
One bullet is still lodged in the siding of the home of James Oliver, who says commissioners should have acted earlier.
"If they had approved this at a sooner date, we wouldn't be talking about this right now," he said, adding that he was pleased with the response of the sheriff's office.
He's also glad no one was hurt - the bullet that hit his house is lodged next to his daughter's bedroom window.
"Property damage, that can be repaired, no big deal," Oliver said. "But as far as a human life, that's something you just can't fix."
