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http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/12134299p-13005373c.html
Man fires shots, breaks into senior complex
The blind suspect mistakenly thought neighbors were in pursuit, police say.
By Mareva Brown -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Tuesday, January 25, 2005
A blind, terrified 29-year-old Pocket man who was mistakenly convinced he was being pursued by angry neighbors, broke into a senior housing community before dawn Saturday, screaming for help and shooting a gun at his imaginary pursuers.
"Miraculously, no one was hurt," said Sacramento Police Sgt. Justin Risley. "But there were a lot of scared residents."
Michael Savage was found by police crumpled on the ground in front of one resident's door and was arrested on charges of unlawfully possessing a handgun and shooting into an occupied dwelling.
He told police he was being chased by his downstairs neighbors from a nearby Greenhaven Drive apartment complex. Savage said the neighbors had become infuriated after he asked them at 6:30 a.m. to turn down their loud music.
Convinced they were coming after him with a gun, Savage leaped from the second-floor balcony of his apartment, armed with a handgun and began running, Risley said.
Shooting wildly behind him, Savage raced across a field and into The Fountains at Greenhaven, a new upscale apartment complex for seniors at 1180 Corporate Way, where he broke in through a tenant's apartment window, cutting himself badly, Risley said.
"He's bleeding significantly, and he's running down the halls, banging on doors, asking people to help him," Risley said.
"Unfortunately, he's got a gun and he thinks people are chasing him. And he's legally blind. So he fires a couple of shots down the hallway. Fortunately, he doesn't hurt anybody."
Resident Carolyn Fall heard Savage's cries for help and imagined one of her frail neighbors in need. But when she stepped into the middle of the hallway in her pink bathrobe, she was stunned to see the man turn and level a gun at her head.
She doesn't know how she was able to jump back inside her apartment so quickly. But she won't soon forget the sound of the gun blast or the ricochet of the bullet as it whizzed through a wall at the end of the hallway and into a neighbor's microwave.
"I don't see how he could be blind," she said. "He took perfect aim at my head."
Another resident said Savage left a trail of blood on the doors of the first-floor apartments.
The manager of the 160-unit gated complex refused to discuss the incident.
Risley said residents who heard the gunshots and Savage pleading for help called Sacramento police at about 7 a.m. When officers arrived, Savage told them he was shooting in self-defense.
But when officers retraced his steps, they could find no evidence that anyone other than Savage had fired a gun.
"We could not verify that three people were chasing him and that they were also inside the old folks home," Risley said.
They did, however, find marijuana and money at the home of the three residents who live below Savage. The trio - Alejandro Vuittonet, 21; Robert Vuittonet, 23; and Theodore Sanchez, 22 - were arrested on charges of possessing drugs for sale.
"I'm thankful it went the way it did," said Fall, the 68-year-old would-be victim. "Because he could have killed several little old people."
YIKES!!!
