Posted on 10/17/2005 5:50:19 AM PDT by Abathar
ANDERSON, Ind. -- A business owner faces felony charges after he shot two teen boys Friday, police said.
Blue Grass Farms owner Brent Schalk said that the teens were on his property after hours and that his property has been plagued by vandals, RTV6's Julie Pursley reported.
He's charged with battery with a deadly weapon and criminal recklessness. If convicted, Schalk could face jail time.
Schalk said he fired his shotgun into the dark in an attempt to scare the trespassers, not hurt them.
The boys were sent to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
"Somebody ran around the corner, running right at me and I just said, 'Hey, stop,' and he kept coming," Schalk said. "I fired right into the wall."
Schalk admitted that he had fired his shotgun, containing bird shot, into the air three times in an effort to scare trespassers he encountered on his farm Friday night.
"He shouldn't have shot us," Kameron Fortune said.
Fortune told RTV6 that he had been on the property that night and on a previous night with the intention of driving golf carts that are on the property.
Schalk said vandals had done more than $10,000 worth of damage to his carts, trucks and other equipment over the last few weeks. He had filed four police reports.
Schalk said he also had to replace sprinklers after vandals drove equipment through the area knocking them down.
Police said five children were involved in Friday night's incident. Some of them live in a mobile home park directly across the street from Schalk's business, Pursley reported.
"They're kids. They're teenagers. They're going to get into mischief," said Lisa Fortune, Kameron's mom. "I'm sure that scared them from going over there again. I think he was a little excessive."
Anderson police Detective Terry Sollars said Schalk was charged because he used excessive force.
"The problem is, you're still talking about unarmed juveniles who were shot in the back as they were turning to leave. His threat was over," Sollars said.
Schalk thinks he should not have been arrested.
"I was just trying to look after my property and keep it from being torn up until I could get some security in here to do it for us," Schalk said.
The boys were treated and released from the hospital. No juvenile charges were filed.
Schalk said he has hired night security for his business and that they arrived just a few minutes after Friday's incident.
Mischief is one thing, vandalism is another. I can't stand people who defend their "Little Angels" even after they get caught red handed doing this stuff. I really hope this guy gets found not guilty, I fail to see what he did wrong if it happened like he reported it - he was scared, they were tresspassing, they got a bunch of birdshot in the @ss. Probably taught them a better lesson on life than their dear sweet mother ever would.
You shouldn't have been on his property. All the same, shooting into the dark is not a wise idea.
"No juvenile charges were filed."
Why not?
in full agreement. jail the mother. birdshot taught them not to drive vehicles that dont belong to them. btw, how much you wanna bet mom files a lawsuit civily? this guy should sell now and get a new identity, he can say hes a refugee from new orleans. or better yet, he can pretend hes an illegal alien.
Excessive? Sounds like it was effective.
bttt
He should have used OO shells. Criminals punks.
$10,000 is a little more than mischief. Try going into a courtroom or a police car and doing $10,000 worth of damage and getting away with it. Not happening.
No, because he didn't know who he was shooting at. He should have had a flash-lite. It's not criminal though. He thought someone was charging at him on his own property. That's threatening. Mom and brats should be glad he wasn't armed with bullets. That shows to me that he chose beforehand a less excessive force. I wouldn't convict him if I was on the jury and would vote vote ye for mom paying for her sons "mischief" if he files for damage.
Certainly not with bird shot! Blackbird.
This town needs to elect a different sherriff and prosecuting attorney.
These kids got what they deserved. 10K is a lot of damage. He needs to relocate his equipment and sell the land at a below market value to stick it to the city.
Being a tax payer means paying cops salary..yet it doesn't seem to buy the victim much consideration...
imo
I wonder what this "mother" would think about some other mischievious youths who might happen upon her property to throw rocks through the windows of her house.
>>>The boys were treated and released from the hospital. No juvenile charges were filed. >>>
Why the hell not??? So what they got shot, the owner is going to be punished for it. If they get a wash, so does he.
Notice there's no mention of little "Kameron's" dad.
Does that surprise anyone?
And for that matter, what degree of literacy does it take to spell "Cameron" correctly?
I've never met a Hoosier I wasn't impressed with. Knowing the few folks from Indiana that I do, I'm confident that all he has to do is ask for a jury trial and he'll walk.
"No juvenile charges were filed."
"Why not?"
Well, the kid's name is "Kameron Fortune" and the guy's name is "Brent Schalk". Go on and take a wild @ss guess at the races involved here.
Clearly the "child" is a "victim".
"They're kids. They're teenagers. They're going to get into mischief," said Lisa Fortune, Kameron's mom. "I'm sure that scared them from going over there again. I think he was a little excessive."
Guess it never occured to Lisa that her little darlin' might encounter gunfire when he was out nights takin' mischief for a spin.
Does that surprise anyone?
And for that matter, what degree of literacy does it take to spell "Cameron" correctly?
It was that part in the article about the trailer park that cleared all that up for me....;^)
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