There were no apparent injuries, Stitzel said. The neighbor is in custody, and the investigation is ongoing.
Around 10:15 a.m., police were called while property owner Amy James and about 20 people sheltered in a barn on the property as gunshots were ongoing, she said. When the shots appeared to be finished, she said her husband went out with police to show the damage to the barn he observed when the neighbor began shooting while he was there.
“My husband and two officers back there with him said, ‘No, he is shooting at us because rounds have gone between us,’ ” James said.
James said the neighbor often shoots guns whenever the family is holding a garage sale, which is often. James and her husband buy storage facilities to sell their contents.
“He likes to fire his guns often while we’re having a yard sale because for some reason, apparently we’re doing something that offends him,” James said.
Credit: Jessica Orozco
Credit: Jessica Orozco
People who come to these sales often stay for a period of time, but James said they don’t count on being “held hostage” there while someone shoots a gun.
“I’m definitely pro gun ownership but I’m also pro responsible gun ownership,” she said. “We’re fine with people having guns and arming themselves and everything, like we have guns, but it’s getting to where you can definitely tell it’s intentional.”
Bullets struck a new storage barn at the back of the James’ property, leaving holes in the walls and roof, and through tarps covering bales of hay. The barn contains treasured items, including two model barns that James’ grandparents made for her, she said. These were inches from a bullet hole.
James said she feels unsafe on her property for fear of being shot and she is thankful her husband, guests and animals are unharmed. She said she had typically felt safer in the country than in other areas.
“It’s just usually there’s certain areas once it’s dark that you just kind of don’t stop there because every now and then it’ll get a little bit rough, but out here we’re usually good and all the neighbors help each other,” James said. “That’s how everyone else is.”
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