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.
Agreed, shooting into yhe dark is just plain stupid and irresponsible.
Absolutely! Although, I think the kids should be prosecuted. Offer a limited probation for a plea if you want - as mom said, I suspect they did learn their lesson. But a man protecting himself and his property should not be prosecuted. A couple of punk teenagers vandalizing someone else's property should be prosecuted.
I agree.
He should have fired a couple of rounds at the mom too.
Anderson is full of trailer park trash.
I stand corrected.
I'm mildly surprised he'd spell it Kameron.
Hell, I see that I technically spelled it wrong. Oh well. My own brother can't spell my given name &, after being married something like 3 decades, my inlaws still can't spell my nickname. I figure that somewhere there is a Cameron Fortune who is really happy that this little hoodlum spells his with a 'K'.
I guess I just couldn't resist teasing you about it. A while back I posted an article entitled "Has the republican party lost it's soul" only I spelled it "soult".
I think that one garnered more comments than any post I've ever made... :)
If he woulda waited 'til it got light, they'da been long gone.
Yeah, well, right or wrong, a firearms owner had better know his state's rules of engagement. Discussing philosophy from a prison cell is mighty cold comfort.
I guess that includes the "Hoosier cops" that seem to be siding with the criminal trespassers and vandals.
That said, firing a weapon into the dark, is pretty stupid.
Direct your attention to #27.
"he had been on the property that night and on a previous night "
Looks to me like he admitted to ten thousand dollars damage eh?
Shooting into the dark on your own property should be against the rules?. I would offer that if noone was trespassing noone would have been shot.
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