Posted on 04/04/2012 8:47:27 AM PDT by marktwain
Owners of a South Side gun range lost another battle in a legal war with neighboring Mission Del Lago golf course Tuesday when a judge cleared the way for course operator Municipal Golf Association-SA to continue its effort to shut down part of the range.
And as A Place to Shoot gun range and the MGA-SA wrangle over an injunction that seeks to cease rifle fire at the Pleasanton Road business, the golfer whose gunshot wound to the chest prompted the allegations of unsafe conditions has stepped into the fray by suing both parties.
Justo Flores, 31, alleges that the owners of A Place to Shoot, the MGA-SA, employees at Mission Del Lago golf course and the City of San Antonio are all at fault for the incident March 4, when he was struck by a stray bullet while playing the course's 12th hole, according to court documents.
On March 14, two days after two golf course employees claimed to hear a rifle shot and feel a bullet whiz by, the MGA-SA filed a request for an injunction along with an application for a temporary restraining order to close the rifle section of the range.
It is the only section of A Place to Shoot that points in the golf course's direction. A district judge granted the order that same day.
With all sides placing blame, it has not been determined where the stray bullet originated.
Police Chief William McManus has said an in-depth investigation could not determine the bullet's origin and said there was no way to tell if it came from the range. Mitchell Lake separates the properties, and the golf course is also abutted to the south by wooded property known for hunting.
William Allan, Flores' attorney, said they expected to prove the bullet came from the gun range by also “pointing out to the public how grossly negligent both parties are.”
Attorneys for A Place to Shoot didn't return calls seeking comment about the lawsuit or the most recent development on the injunction.
Lawyers for the shooting range had argued last week that the golf association didn't have the jurisdiction to sue. They cited a state statute that forbids cities or counties from regulating shooting ranges established before Sept. 1, 2011, and that prevents local governments from suing ranges without the Legislature's permission.
That restriction should apply to the golf association, a public/private partnership created by the City of San Antonio to manage its municipal golf courses, the attorneys said.
District Court Judge Renée McElhaney disagreed and Tuesday denied the plea to have the case thrown out. The next step is a hearing to determine if the golf association can get a temporary injunction, a step beyond the temporary restraining order.
Golf association CEO and President Jim Roschek said in a news release Tuesday that for now, “Mission del Lago is open and we believe our employees and patrons are safe from A Place to Shoot's rifle shots.”
Allan said the fact the MGA-SA is fighting so hard to keep the rifle section closed proves it believes the shots came from there even though it has said the origin couldn't be known.
The golf association is guilty of gross negligence, court documents argue, alleging the golf operators knew about previous stray bullet complaints and lied to Flores after he was shot, telling him they did not know of any concerns before March 4.
Representatives of the golf course offered “a few rounds of golf to make everything go away,” the documents claim.
Flores is seeking up to $750,000 in damages.
mmondo@express-news.net
Here is a link to an article with a bit more information and a map:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2868170/posts?page=1
Seriously, at some point under some circumstances (dead bodies all about) your basic principles of planning and zoning just simply break down.
More articles that shed a little light on the golf course gun shot.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2868175/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2868179/posts
This article says that the range was there first:
The golf course is city-owned and privately operated. It opened in 1989. The shooting range which operates within a few miles of the course opened about 35 years ago.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2868175/posts
Whether what whizzed by the two employees golfing at the 15th hole on Monday was definitely a bullet is one thing but there's no doubt a stray .223-caliber round had to be removed from Flores’ sternum.
Quite a surprise to me! I’ve lived here for 36 years and hadn’t heard of the range till they started running radio ads last year. Color me slightly chastened...
3,600 meters is 2.23 miles.
M16/A2 shoots a 5.56mm/.223 cartridge:
28
Describe the ranges for the M16/A2 Rifle.
* Maximum Range - 3,600 meters
* Max Effective Range for a Point Target - 550 meters
* Max Effective Range for an Area Target - 800 meters
http://www.armystudyguide.com/content/army_board_study_guide_topics/m16a2/m16a2-study-guide.shtml
This link has a velocity listed for a .223 round at maximum range:
.223 Remington (55 gr SP BT)
Muzzle Velocity 3240 ft/s
Maximum Range 3875 yard, 2.20 mile
Impact Velocity 545 ft/s
http://askville.amazon.com/shooting-gun-bullet-travel/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=3928729
LOL! I'd say so! At least our minefield had a big ass wall in front of it.
And it probably didn’t enter his sternum point first. I’m willing to bet it probably flopped against his chest and buried itself in his flesh.
IMHO, the order to halt rifle fire isn’t unreasonable.
They can still have pistol fire safely.
Unless the range owns the golf course and can maintain public safety, then they need to be held accountable for the damages caused by the rounds straying from their range.
Likewise, a golf course is also liable for damage caused by stray golf balls off their property.
IMHO, I’d be more worried if I were a pilot in a small plane using VFR approach rules.
Since when did drive-by shootings have to be in black neighborhoods?
Accidents do happen but once someone is shot they need to get to the bottom of what happened. Either someone was irresponsible or the range is designed wrong.
I’d kinda doubt the bullet came from the range though.
From the one link - “All day long I heard gun shots and I was thinking that sounds kind of close”.
Seems like the bullet didn’t penetrate much which would be consistent with the 2 mile range. Depending on the layout I’d think the sound would be pretty faint.
I'd say the range was designed properly. It was the dumbass that decided to put a golf course and a housing community behind it that should be shot.
Sort of like people moving in next to an airport then filing complaints about the noise.
“I’d say the range was designed properly. It was the dumbass that decided to put a golf course and a housing community behind it that should be shot. “
So nobody should be able to use their property 2 miles behind a gun range? hogwash
It’s not a more challenging course from a technical standpoint, but the hazards are a bee-otch. :-)
Exactly.
There is no evidence that the bullet came from the range. Zip. Zero.
There is just supposition that because there is a range within two miles, that the bullet came from the range.
I see no reason for riflery at the range to be shut down based on the allegation that the bullet came from the range, with nothing to support it.
The range has not had any incidents in 20 years.
They are using it. But they were also aware when they bought the property that there was a shooting range a few miles away.
We simply do not know. It could have been fired 400 yards away, hit a twig, and been tumbling. Once bullets start to tumble, they lose energy very quickly.
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