Green Bay man who shot at an aggressive dog but hit a Jeep and house instead must apologize to property owners and serve a year probation.
Nicholas Heyrman, 34, pleaded no contest in Brown County Circuit Court to second-degree recklessly endangering safety and misdemeanor endangering safety. However, a deferred judgment agreement will allow the felony to be dismissed if Heyrman stays out of trouble and follows the terms of his probation.
Heyrman fired eight rounds from his AR-15 rifle at a loose dog in his west-side neighborhood last fall, a criminal complaint says. He was 32 feet away but missed the dog, instead hitting a house and a new Jeep Patriot Sport.
It happened in the middle of the afternoon in a residential neighborhood near South Oakland Avenue and Ninth Street. Heyrman told police a passerby had warned him of an aggressive dog in the area, and Heyrman took his child inside and armed himself.
Friends and neighbors wrote letters of support to the court asking for leniency. Several neighbors, including the neighborhood mail carrier, said the dog in question, a pitbull, was well-known in the area as an aggressive animal that had been confiscated at least once from the owner by animal control officers.
Even the Jeep owner, who criticized Heyrman for his action, admitted the animal had given him and his family problems at least three times.
"If you take the dog out of the equation, none of this even happens," the owner wrote the court, adding it would be "a mistake" to take Heyrman away from his family.
However, the owner also wrote, "Please take away his gun before someone gets killed."
Under terms of his probation, Heyman is not allowed to possess firearms, must perform 50 hours of community service, pay restitution and apologize to the people sustaining damage, Brown County Judge Kendall Kelley ordered.
— psrubas@pressgazettemedia.com and follow him on Twitter@PGpaulsrubas
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