Oak Lawn police charged a man with felony reckless discharge of a firearm after a neighbor called 911 saying he had heard gunfire shortly after midnight on Jan. 1, reports said.
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Police arrived to a home in the 9900 block of South Parke Avenue around 12:03 a.m. A neighbor said he had gone outside to start his car around midnight, when he heard a loud popping noise. He saw approximately two to three more muzzle flashes accompanying the loud reports.
Recognizing the sound as gunshots, the neighbor saw an arm disappearing through the door next door and called 911. While speaking to the 911 operator police said the neighbor saw a man come outside the same door and yell, “Happy New Year.”
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As police were searching the area, a man matching the neighbor’s description exited the house where the reported shots were fired. He was ordered to the ground and handcuffed, reports said.
The man identified himself as Paul Blohm Sr., 38, of the 9900 block of South Parke Avenue. Police said that Blohm denied having a handgun but said he had a shotgun inside his garage. Blohm was wearing his pajamas and asked to go into the house to get warm.
Police escorted him into his house and removed the handcuffs. Blohm continued to deny any involvement and told police he had a few beers and was going outside to smoke a cigar, reports said.
Another police officer saw a shell casing lying next to a garbage can. The officer said he opened the garbage can lid and saw three more spent shell casings.
Confronted with the shell casings, Blohm allegedly admitted to firing off a couple of shots.
Police said Blohm granted permission to search his home for the weapon, eventually leading officers to the living room, where an empty, five-shot, .38 Smith and Wesson Special was found inside a Crown Royal bag.
Blohm was arrested and taken to the Oak Lawn police station. He said he had "cleared the area" before firing some rounds into the air and had intended no malice, reports said.
Police said that Blohn admitted to feeling festive after a couple of beers but said he wasn’t intoxicated. He “deeply regretted the situation,” according to the report.
He was charged with a felony had a bond hearing at 26th and California on Jan. 1.
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To the shooter who had to many beers on New Years Eve, my kids live next door your lucky the bullets didnt go through the roof. Grow up you have kids yourself you wouldnt want your kids getting hurt and i dont either.
To echo Nick's comment, what if a stray bullet found its way into the brain of an innocent child? At least he or she would still have a better brain than this one. How many, I repeat, HOW MANY stories have we read in the Sun Times about these New Years accidents? This would make a great Lifetime Original Movie: "The Deeply Regretful New Year Shooter" starring Paul Rudd.
Meanwhile gangbangers are shooting up the Chuck E. Cheese and idiots are stabbing each other in our hospital parking lot. Slap him with a fine, or sure maybe it is a felony though I'm sure he didn't know it, but the public shaming and home invasion - geez.
I don't do it myself, and maybe it's unfortunate, but shooting a gun in the air out of festivity is a tradition in most of the world. It may not be advisable, and it may not be legal here, but it doesn't warrant idle law enforcement personnel acting like he's the next mass murderer. This kind of unnecessary police aggression is not something you should be condoning.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebratory_gunfire It's a bit dangerous, but still commonplace around the world. In the rare chance a bullet comes down (not at all at firing velocity, mind you) and actually hits a person, yes that would be dangerous, but I don't see any evidence that this happened or that the person was still brandishing a firearm or threatening the police. Like I said, the OLPD could've handled this sternly and seriously without acting like SWAT. I'm not blaming the neighbor for calling the police, I'm blaming the police for using undue force.
http://www.wusa9.com/video/2066034721001/0/Police-warn-against-celebratory-gunfire-on-New-Years http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/80760140/ http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/ruskin-boy-hit-by-celebratory-new-years-gunfire-remains-critical/1208808 Its not just a bit dangerous, its extremely dangerous especially when drunk like this idiot was!
As police were searching the area, instead of just knocking on the guy's door, the man exited his house peacefully in his pajamas and identified himself. They put him prone on the ground and cuffed him and he had to ask them to go inside from the freezing weather. He was unarmed to the extent that they had to get him to agree to a full house search in order to find the weapon. Where was the potential danger again?
Id rather 10,000 good citizens with guns than one criminal with. Its simple math. IL needs conceal carry, not only to protect against the influx of city scumbags, but also our soon to be tyrannical gov.