Neighbor Shooting Pellet Gun

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hgmike

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My father-in-law's (FIL) neighbor has been shooting a pellet gun at his house in the middle of the night, a couple times per week for the last two years. My FIL has heard the gun fire and found pellets embedded in the house siding. He has called the police several times, they question the neighbor who denies it and then complains my FIL is crazy. The police say he needs video as proof.

We started to think maybe my FIL is going crazy b/c he is a retired LEO with the county he lives in. We just couldn't understand how the police wouldn't do anything if his story is true. My brother-in-law parked in the driveway one night and he sees someone walking around the neighbor's yard carrying what looks like a rifle and heard shots fired. He called 911 the police came and said the same thing, they need video to arrest him.

So the police want us to go outside where a firearm is being discharged and video it. Any suggestions on how to do this? I'll need video cameras with night vision but I don't see how this can be accomplished. Can we point camera's in the neighbor's yard? Any advice will be appreciated.
 
Trail Camera

Find a friend that has some trail cameras that you can use pointed in the direction of the neighbors hose. They have Infared flash and will take multiple picures. They are motion activated. Set them up when you know the neighbor is not home and you will catch many photos of him doing the deed. Leave them set up for a week or so and get multiple pics. Then call the police and show them the pics.
 
Night vision security feed isn't cheap to set up, especially if you don't know exactly where you're going to need to be looking and thus need more than one camera. You could wait up with a handheld spotlight and normal camera until you hear the noise.

Edit: Post above sounds better
 
That is interesting that you need video as proof since you have an eye witness with your brother in law. Has anyone spoken with someone other than the officers responding to the call? Might contact a lawyer in your area and see what other legal options you have, or if the police are mistaken. It wouldn't be the first time.
 
Can we point camera's in the neighbor's yard?
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Yep, and they can't do a single thing about it long as you aren't on their property. You can film all day long and they can't do a thing about it.
 
It does sound like a case of officers not wanting to bother with a headache just for a little misdemeanor charge. I would recommend either talking to a lawyer, as was recommended or insist a supervisor/sergeant come out on the next time it happens. The latter might be particularly effective if your fathers former coworkers are at the supervisor sort of level, career wise.
 
That sounds like the police don't want to cooperate with you. Need to go up the chain or call state LEO. What did your FIL do to cause this guy to start shooting at the side of his house?
 
300 gets him a 2-4 camera video system with night vision capability

Also, document the damage, get bid to fix it, in say removing ALL the siding to REPLACE the shot piece and take the highest ones in, file in small claims court.

That and get the Halogens, hook them up, one person goes out with the EBR, the other with the camcorder.

take it to court, get criminal and civil on them, and sue them to get the home owners insurance to kick in, that is where the pay out is.

Sorry, I don't coddle stupid.
 
"...has heard the gun fire..." Must be some pellet gun.
"...they need video to arrest him..." Proof, for sure, but not video. An eye witness who isn't your FIL, MIL or BIL should do.
"...sees someone..." Isn't enough if he can't postively ID that someone.
 
Sunray, Eyewitness is no good unless you have atleast 2, they actually WITNESSED the shooter and can positively ID him

There's really very little you can do besides either talk to him about it or move. Unless the cops are sitting on the street and hear the shot, use that probable cause to get a warrant to search his house for a pellet gun, retrieve the pellets from his siding and match them to the type he had in his house, then that MIGHT fly in front of a jury.

Pellet guns are not as quiet as people think. My cheap walmart pellet rifle is much louder than my savage mark 2 shooting .22CB rounds.
 
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Well if wild pigs are not smart enough to notice I doubt domestic ones will either. Sorry could'nt resist that bit of humor :D

In all seriousness I think a trail cam would be the best way to go, decent resolution TC's can be had for little more than a hundred bucks that will pick him up at night.
 
Just what is the Law on situations if one is being fired upon with a high power Pellet Gun?


Seems to me, such a projectile could be lethal, or as lethal as a .22 Short anyway.

If it is enough to bury itself in Wood Siding, it is enough to gravely harm or kill.



Is one not entitled to return Fire with whatever Arm one elects?


Plenty of instances where the Police will shoot a person holding a conspicious 'BB Gun' merely because the person was not putting it down fast enough, where, the person had not and was not firing at them at all.


Is an ordinary Citizen held to a vastly different criteria? when they are in fact being fired upon even?
 
I know a guy in the gas and oil business and he said they were having a lot of solar panels stolen from remote well locations so the company bought cameras for the locations and filmed the thieves, when the pics. were given to the SO they said it was inadmissable in court for prosecution because the SO didn't have full custody of the evidence.
Sounded crazy to me but something to think about with the camera idea.
 
Plenty of instances where the Police will shoot a person holding a conspicious 'BB Gun' merely because the person was not putting it down fast enough, where, the person had not and was not firing at them at all.
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I am guessing you will be unable to find a single incident where the police knew it was a BB gun and still used deadly force. More often, I think you'll find that the police believed it to be an actual firearm.

In this case, the original poster has already indicated that he knows it is a BB gun - so in order to justify the use of deadly force, he would have to convince the jury that a reasonable person would have found an immediate threat of death or serious injury. Now I imagine that is going to be a very difficult case to make.

Some of the responses in this thread are very disappointing. Lethal force or the threat of it is not an appropriate response to pellets in your siding. People who take that kind of action are going to end up broke and in the crossbar hotel.


Is an ordinary Citizen held to a vastly different criteria? when they are in fact being fired upon even?
 
Betcha the guy shoots the trail camera next...
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Yep, whatever camera you use will need shielding such as by a plexiglass sheet, but that may affect the sensitivity for detection of movment.

Of course, pellet guns shoot a lot further than game cameras detect. You may be able to put up a camera watching the other guy's yard and it never see him because he is out of detection range.

Well if wild pigs are not smart enough to notice I doubt domestic ones will either.
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Pigs and other game definitely notice the cameras going off. A lot figure out that the camera's glow is nothing threatened and choose not to flee, but they notice it.

Night vision security feed isn't cheap to set up, especially if you don't know exactly where you're going to need to be looking and thus need more than one camera. You could wait up with a handheld spotlight and normal camera until you hear the noise.
Click to expand...

I don't know what you mean by cheap, but there are a variety of systems out there under $400 that include wireless cameras with night vision that broadcast to a receiver that can then be slaved to a VCR or computer hard drive and monitor such as on the computer or to a TV.

Here is an example, but not an endorsement of the particular product. There are many such systems available.
http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Security-Infrared-Surveillance-Display/dp/B0039XA708/ref=pd_cp_p_2
 
Make sure if you do use the trail cameras that you back up all the pics on your pc and have them also burned to a disk. My best friends father had his farmhouse robbed repeatedly, he put trail cameras up in several locations. Some discreet and some out in plain sight to possibly help deter thieves. The ones that were viewed openly were stolen by the thieves as well. When my friends father contacted LEO they said they needed the memory card from the camera for evidence. When one of the deputies tried to view the photos on the SO computer he accidentally deleted the pictures. Luckily my friends father had pictures that where still usable from another camera and made backups before giving them to the sheriff. With the evidence provided by the camera he was able to have them arrested and now has criminal and civil suits against them and their employer because they were on the job with other company employees in sight of them comitting the crimes.
 
Shooting pellets at a house in the middle of the night is either a passive aggressive action or the guy is nuts. Since I'll assume the guy doing the shooting isn't crazy, I'd say the first thing you need to do is understand why he's doing it. Chances are you probably know or suspect the 'why' anyway. I'd see if you can get that addressed since if he has some bone to pick, you may be able to bring the incident to closure by addressing the cause.
 
flood lights, big bright halogen floods, are also passive aggressive, AND the help with a clear pic.
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Yep! 8 or 10 500W halogens aimed at his house would make it a bit tough for him to hide and take pop shots.
 
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