Target practice bullet hits Coopersville man inside his home

Grand Rapids Press ^ | 5-21-08 | John Agar

[Darren McCarty]

In his living room, Jonathan Schiefla felt the bullet hit his leg. The family cat, on the window sill, flew with the broken glass.

Schiefla told his wife to hit the floor.

In the distance, gunshots -- target practice south of their Coopersville home -- kept going off. He called 911, while wife Danyle kept pressure on his wound until rescuers arrived.

"It's something you don't expect to happen, being on your living-room floor watching television," he said Wednesday. "I'm just glad our little boy wasn't around."

Ottawa County sheriff's deputies identified four people -- two men, two women, ages from 17 to 23 -- who were shooting at targets in Polkton Township, a half-mile south of the Schieflas' mobile-home park. Detective Lt. Mark Bennett described the four as cooperative, unaware that the bullet, which crossed Int. 96, had traveled so far and hit anyone.

The shooting Tuesday night sent Schiefla, a 25-year-old landscaper, to Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital, where doctors removed the .45-caliber slug that entered the back of his upper right leg and lodged in front, without hitting bone.

Police are in the process of determining which one of them fired the shot. Bennett said they were shooting at targets, but pending a prosecutor's review would not disclose the backstop used to protect others from errant shots.

Police reports showed that four guns, at least three of them handguns, were being fired. The guns were believed to be legally possessed for target practice in the township.

The four did not realize they were shooting in the direction of homes, with woods blocking the shooting area from the highway and mobile-home park.

"As bad as it turned out, it could've been even worse," Bennett said.

[MediaMole]

It could have been a .45 cal hunting round. .454 casull or one of the other high performance rounds.

.45 acp would have had to have been in a ballistic trajectory to hit at 700 yards.

[Gilbo_3]

IMO, unless theys individuals targeted the guy, theres no 'crime'...

civil responsibility ??? HELL YES...

However the fact that leo is beating the bushes to find evidence to jack somebody up on is ridiculous...unless they meant to drop a rainbow thru his window...

My .02

[Shooter 2.5]

All it would take is for the bullet to glance off of something like a tree branch or rock and you have your instant “up in the air tragectory”. At this point it still doesn’t matter. The guy with the gun still owns that bullet.

[humblegunner]

I got old man Thomas across the road firing off shots all the time.
He shoots at snakes and squirrels and such.

He never hits 'em but he never hits anything else, either.

At least he ain't hit ME.

[CurlyDave]

All it would take is for the bullet to glance off of something like a tree branch or rock and you have your instant “up in the air tragectory”.

Oh, come on, you know better than that. As soon as the bullet hits something, it loses energy, & velocity. It will not carry nearly as far as if it did not hit something.

[CurlyDave]

You have the link to the story your reading because I sure don’t see where your getting all yer info there Curly Dave ?

Same link you have.

Have you ever tried to shoot something 1/2 mile away with a .45? The bullet drop is enormous. Go find yourself a spot overlooking a pond maybe 200 yards in diameter. Stand back 700-800 yards and try to drop a bullet into the pond.

By the time you get to the point where you can fire a shot and see ripples, you will not be shooting at anything resembling a target placed even 6 feet high. You will be shooting "up in the air". I know, I have done it. And yes I could see that the area was clear for at least two miles, which is just about twice the max range of a .45.

[Shooter 2.5]

You would be surprised how little it takes to deflect a bullet.

By the way, after the jounalists get hold of a story, that measured 400 yards can easily turn into your 1/2 mile away. Same as your 45 ACP.

[Squantos]

440 is a quarter mile. The points I was making are that the text I am reading state a 45 caliber. As well was it Auto, GAP, Colt or 454 casull ?? Lots of what if possible, I don’t see a crime........yet based on info provided.

IMO there isn’t enough info in the article “today” about what happened to say it was criminal or irresponsible etc .....or even what kind of 45 was used.

Stay safe ya’ll !

[hiredhand]

I've just read the article twice now and you're right. There's terribly little info regarding facts. The way it's written, it sounds like the bullet struck him in the leg, and then went through a window. But if it happened this way, it had to enter the dwelling first. So I'll "bet" that it came through the window first. I'm only guessing here, but I'll say it was "probably" .45 ACP. We've fired at people sized targets at 150 yards before just to see if we could do it, and it was more like using a slingshot than firing a handgun. There was a LOT of drop, and by the time it reached the target it had slowed down a LOT too. One of my sons said he could see the projectile just before it struck the backstop.

Since the bullet lodged in his leg without striking bone, it wasn't going full speed. I use my .45 ACP to kill hogs and goats when we slaughter and "hardball" ammo goes right through pig skulls. Not so with goats. But this at point blank range too.

Whatever the ruling is on the criminal intent (and it sounds like there wasn't any - they were cooperating), these people will probably be a l-i-t-t-l-e more careful about shooting next time. :-)

[hiredhand]

As my daughter says -

".45 ACP. It's only .048" from being a fifty" :-)

[sportutegrl]

Maybe Law Enforcement is being kind to the victim and doing enough research to point out the target of a civil suit . . .

It doesn't matter who fired the shot, all four are 'guilty'. The target of a civil suit is always the guy with the deepest pocket (most $$$).