http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_wa_camping_shooting.html
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
SW Wash campers duck gunshots; no injuries
VANCOUVER, Wash. -- Campers enjoying the outdoors along a popular southwest Washington shoreline say they had to duck behind cars to avoid incoming bullets flying across Yale Reservoir.
Clark County sheriff's deputies responding to frantic 911 calls last weekend located the source of the gunfire. They drove around the lake and arrested Jacob Michael Johnson, 25, of Vancouver, who acknowledged that he'd been firing three guns, including an AK-47 assault-style rifle, according to the deputies' report.
Johnson told the deputies he'd been shooting at the water and at a small island directly between his campsite and the campground across the lake, the report said.
Informed that his bullets were ricocheting off the water into the campground, Johnson said he didn't know bullets could do that, the report said.
No one was injured.
Johnson pleaded not guilty Monday to five counts of misdemeanor reckless endangerment in Clark County District Court, and is free on bail. Conviction on each charge carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $5,000 fine, Clark County Deputy Prosecutor Michelle Nisle said.
Reached by phone Thursday evening, Johnson told The Columbian, "The whole shooting into the campground is just speculation. It didn't happen. I wasn't shooting into the campground."
Deputies were called at about 9:30 a.m. on June 14, but campers said the shooting began hours earlier, shortly after midnight. Yale Reservoir is located just south of Mount St. Helens.
"We were just getting ready to go to bed when we heard the first shots," said Brad Burnett, a Vancouver man who was at the Beaver Bay Campground with friends and family, including children.
Burnett estimated about 100 people were at the campground.
Deputy James Payne said campers told him they tried to yell at the shooter, but that didn't work.
"As I drove in, I was contacted by about 20 people who were frantic and told me someone had been shooting from across the lake and the rounds were hitting in the trees above their tents and on the ground in front of the campsites," Payne said in the report, adding, "Some people stated that they climbed behind vehicles and under things to stay out of the line of fire."
When deputies talked to Johnson, he told them he'd been shooting a .357 Magnum revolver and a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol in addition to the rifle.
Deputies seized the guns and some ammunition as evidence.
Payne, a U.S. Army veteran and now a firearms instructor, said rifle bullets can travel well over a mile. He noted they can ricochet off water and continue for great distances. Using a laser device, Payne said he measured the distance between Johnson's site and the campground at 1,530 feet, less than the maximum range of the rifle and even the handguns.
"We go camping to relax and spend some time with family and friends," Burnett said. "But when you're dodging bullets, the tranquility is ruined. I'm hoping it'll be a one-time occurrence, because Beaver Bay is a real nice campground."
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
SW Wash campers duck gunshots; no injuries
VANCOUVER, Wash. -- Campers enjoying the outdoors along a popular southwest Washington shoreline say they had to duck behind cars to avoid incoming bullets flying across Yale Reservoir.
Clark County sheriff's deputies responding to frantic 911 calls last weekend located the source of the gunfire. They drove around the lake and arrested Jacob Michael Johnson, 25, of Vancouver, who acknowledged that he'd been firing three guns, including an AK-47 assault-style rifle, according to the deputies' report.
Johnson told the deputies he'd been shooting at the water and at a small island directly between his campsite and the campground across the lake, the report said.
Informed that his bullets were ricocheting off the water into the campground, Johnson said he didn't know bullets could do that, the report said.
No one was injured.
Johnson pleaded not guilty Monday to five counts of misdemeanor reckless endangerment in Clark County District Court, and is free on bail. Conviction on each charge carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $5,000 fine, Clark County Deputy Prosecutor Michelle Nisle said.
Reached by phone Thursday evening, Johnson told The Columbian, "The whole shooting into the campground is just speculation. It didn't happen. I wasn't shooting into the campground."
Deputies were called at about 9:30 a.m. on June 14, but campers said the shooting began hours earlier, shortly after midnight. Yale Reservoir is located just south of Mount St. Helens.
"We were just getting ready to go to bed when we heard the first shots," said Brad Burnett, a Vancouver man who was at the Beaver Bay Campground with friends and family, including children.
Burnett estimated about 100 people were at the campground.
Deputy James Payne said campers told him they tried to yell at the shooter, but that didn't work.
"As I drove in, I was contacted by about 20 people who were frantic and told me someone had been shooting from across the lake and the rounds were hitting in the trees above their tents and on the ground in front of the campsites," Payne said in the report, adding, "Some people stated that they climbed behind vehicles and under things to stay out of the line of fire."
When deputies talked to Johnson, he told them he'd been shooting a .357 Magnum revolver and a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol in addition to the rifle.
Deputies seized the guns and some ammunition as evidence.
Payne, a U.S. Army veteran and now a firearms instructor, said rifle bullets can travel well over a mile. He noted they can ricochet off water and continue for great distances. Using a laser device, Payne said he measured the distance between Johnson's site and the campground at 1,530 feet, less than the maximum range of the rifle and even the handguns.
"We go camping to relax and spend some time with family and friends," Burnett said. "But when you're dodging bullets, the tranquility is ruined. I'm hoping it'll be a one-time occurrence, because Beaver Bay is a real nice campground."
