RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. (KABC) -- A man who was shot with an air gun
while driving his car didn't wait around for authorities to
apprehend the suspects.
Dan Laue said he was leaving work around 11 p.m. Sunday when
he noticed a car pull up next to him on Foothill Boulevard at the 15 Freeway in
Rancho Cucamonga.
"As soon as the car drove up, I saw it come up next to
me really close. I saw something come out the window, so I immediately went to
look. I heard a shot and I immediately felt pain in my neck," Laue said.
He said he thinks they were using an Airsoft rifle, one that shoots small airsoft
pellets.
So, Laue called 911 - but that's not all. He chased after
them, doing whatever he could to make sure they didn't get away. Since his call
to 911 went through the OnStar system in his Chevrolet Camaro, he was able to
use his iPhone to shoot video of what was happening.
"Hey, I just got shot in the neck by these guys, I'm
chasing them," Laue told the dispatcher.
"Are you injured?" the dispatcher asks.
"I don't know, it's dark," he replies.
"Can you pull over so I can get you medical
attention?" the dispatcher asks.
"No, I'm not letting go of them. You guys catch up,"
Laue said.
Moments later, a sheriff's deputy saw what was happening and
pulled the suspect vehicle over. Two 17 year olds, who were not identified
because they are minors, were arrested on misdemeanor charges of brandishing a
replica firearm.
The San Bernardino Sheriff's Department said deputies
recovered two Airsoft rifles in the suspect vehicle and one airsoft pellet in
Laue's vehicle.
Laue said the injury to his neck was minor.
Asked why he wouldn't pull over for the dispatcher, Laue
said, "Because I knew if I didn't get behind them until a sheriff's car
was behind them, they were going to get away. Whether it was a real gun or not,
I was ready to ram them at some point if I needed to, if it was a real gun.
"This happens too many times in our country, and I'm
not going to let it happen to me and let someone get away with a crime like
that."
(Copyright ©2012 KABC-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
Monday, July 30, 2012
Friday, July 27, 2012
National Guard recruits stay local with airsoft training
Young recruits with the Washington Army National Guard received realistic
training last weekend for their upcoming basic courses. Some of the recruits
are still waiting to move on to the next stage of their career as a soldier and
are not authorized to use real firearms. Instead - they walk, run and crawl
with airsoft guns.
Airsoft isn’t as messy or archaic as paintball as described by Sfc. Mike
Whitacre. He’s the lead on their July training at Spokane Airsoft located in
Northtown Mall. They only get a single weekend in a month to work with the
recruits, so they try to mix up the training locations to bring some recruits
closer to home.
“We can stay local. We only have two days for these guys to get trained,”
Sfc. Whitacre said. “...one weekend a month so if we’re spending a lot of time
on the road to let’s say Yakima, we’re taking away a lot of time we can use to
train these soldiers. We can find something local to maximize our training
efforts.”
The guard has used other locations in Spokane for their trainings including
the Spokane Police Academy, Fairchild Air Force Base and Riverside State Park.
Their most recent outing at the airsoft store was a first for the group and it
was designed to help them practice the techniques they learned over a
presentation and put the skills to use.
The realistic experience means crawling on the carpeted floor of the store
with opposing forces waiting for them. Some of them hide behind stacks of tires
or just around the corner of a plywood wall. Volunteers and store employees
participated in the training as the opposing force to give the recruits a
realistic scenario to work with.
Training outside a military facility is not an economical tactic says Sfc.
Whitacre. He describes the guard more as of a community organization compared
to the other branches of military. They like to source things out to the
community. The co-owners of Spokane Airsoft (one being a KXLY Broadcast
Group employee) have been contributing to their trainings for about five
years. They also invite the recruits to a 46-acre property near Reardan for an
outdoor experience.
The sustainment program helps the recruits during their transition from
civilian to soldier. After basic, it’s time for the individual job training to
help them go into a variety of careers from medical and administrative.
As a standing militia, the guard is designed to keep their soldiers local in
case the state finds a need for their assistance like natural disasters.
Basically, Sfc. Whitacre said, they’re the home team.
“There was flooding in the Centralia area over the winter. Obviously forest fires
are pretty much every summer. Sometimes we had some calls out to other states
to help,” Sfc. Whitacre said. “Hurricane Katrina is another good example. It
was so devastating, the guard there was unable to handle the whole thing. It
was too ginormous of a disaster so they called on many states to help out with
that.”
The recruits are not at that stage yet, but eventually they will be. Most of
the recruits range from ages 17 to 21 and some of them are still waiting for
their uniforms to come in. In the meantime, they train.
“Using airsoft allows them to have realistic training. They’ll be ahead of
the game,” Sfc. Whitacre continued.
Submitted by
Nicole Hensley, Web Producer
Friday, July 27th, 2012, 5:39pm
training last weekend for their upcoming basic courses. Some of the recruits
are still waiting to move on to the next stage of their career as a soldier and
are not authorized to use real firearms. Instead - they walk, run and crawl
with airsoft guns.
Airsoft isn’t as messy or archaic as paintball as described by Sfc. Mike
Whitacre. He’s the lead on their July training at Spokane Airsoft located in
Northtown Mall. They only get a single weekend in a month to work with the
recruits, so they try to mix up the training locations to bring some recruits
closer to home.
“We can stay local. We only have two days for these guys to get trained,”
Sfc. Whitacre said. “...one weekend a month so if we’re spending a lot of time
on the road to let’s say Yakima, we’re taking away a lot of time we can use to
train these soldiers. We can find something local to maximize our training
efforts.”
The guard has used other locations in Spokane for their trainings including
the Spokane Police Academy, Fairchild Air Force Base and Riverside State Park.
Their most recent outing at the airsoft store was a first for the group and it
was designed to help them practice the techniques they learned over a
presentation and put the skills to use.
The realistic experience means crawling on the carpeted floor of the store
with opposing forces waiting for them. Some of them hide behind stacks of tires
or just around the corner of a plywood wall. Volunteers and store employees
participated in the training as the opposing force to give the recruits a
realistic scenario to work with.
Training outside a military facility is not an economical tactic says Sfc.
Whitacre. He describes the guard more as of a community organization compared
to the other branches of military. They like to source things out to the
community. The co-owners of Spokane Airsoft (one being a KXLY Broadcast
Group employee) have been contributing to their trainings for about five
years. They also invite the recruits to a 46-acre property near Reardan for an
outdoor experience.
The sustainment program helps the recruits during their transition from
civilian to soldier. After basic, it’s time for the individual job training to
help them go into a variety of careers from medical and administrative.
As a standing militia, the guard is designed to keep their soldiers local in
case the state finds a need for their assistance like natural disasters.
Basically, Sfc. Whitacre said, they’re the home team.
“There was flooding in the Centralia area over the winter. Obviously forest fires
are pretty much every summer. Sometimes we had some calls out to other states
to help,” Sfc. Whitacre said. “Hurricane Katrina is another good example. It
was so devastating, the guard there was unable to handle the whole thing. It
was too ginormous of a disaster so they called on many states to help out with
that.”
The recruits are not at that stage yet, but eventually they will be. Most of
the recruits range from ages 17 to 21 and some of them are still waiting for
their uniforms to come in. In the meantime, they train.
“Using airsoft allows them to have realistic training. They’ll be ahead of
the game,” Sfc. Whitacre continued.
Submitted by
Nicole Hensley, Web Producer
Friday, July 27th, 2012, 5:39pm
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Police: Man shoots at cars, people with airsoft rifle
FRANKLIN —
A Franklin man who police say drove around town Sunday
evening and shot at people and cars with his new airsoft rifles was ordered
held pending a hearing Thursday to determine if he is a danger to the
public.
Scott Haigh, of 685 Pond St., told Franklin police he was
testing two new airsoft guns, which fire plastic airsoft pellets and typically
have an orange or red cap on the barrel, by shooting at street signs.
But according to authorities, as he drove through Franklin
and Bellingham in a brown Chevy van, Haigh, 39, shot an 11-year-old boy in the hand,
as well as at two vehicles.
No one was seriously injured, police said.
At about 6 p.m. on Sunday, police said someone fired at a
vehicle carrying two people that was traveling south on Pond Street. A man and
his son told police they saw someone pointing an airsoft gun at them as they
drove by.
They heard something hit their vehicle, and the son told his
father "that guy just shot at them," police said.
The men and his son told police they had seen a brown van
parked near Donato Drive on the southbound side of the road. But police were
not able to locate a vehicle matching the witnesses' description.
Later, at about 7 p.m., a woman reported that someone drove
by her Pond Street home and shot her grandson him in the hand. She told police
the shot came from a black airsoft gun with a red tip fired from a brown or tan
van.
Police had trouble finding the van so they asked one of the
men in the vehicle that had been fired at on Pond Street car to come with them
in a search.
As they searched on Pond Street, police said, a woman
flagged down the cruiser and said someone in a van had pointed a airsoft gun at
her while she was driving.
Police eventually found the van at 685 Pond St. — Haigh’s
home.
Haigh answered the door and told police he had just been
shooting at street signs, not at people. Police found two airsoft guns inside
identified as the ones used in the incidents.
In addition to a third airsoft gun, police found fireworks.
Police arrested Haigh and charged him with three counts of
assault with a deadly weapon (the airsoft guns), disorderly conduct, disturbing
the peace and unlawful possession of fireworks. Bellingham police said they did
not have any reports of people or cars being shot at.
Haigh pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Monday in
Wrentham District Court. Judge Emogene Johnson-Smith ordered Haigh held without
bail pending the results of a dangerousness hearing Thursday. Haigh's attorney,
Robert Costello, objected to the prosecutor's request to hold his client,
arguing he was not firing at people.
Airsoft guns are legal in the United States, but a federal
law requires the owners to have some kind of colored marking on the barrel.
Airsoft guns, like paintball guns, are not lethal, though the airsoft pellets
can cause bruising.
Matt Tota can be reached at 508-634-7521 or
mtota@wickedlocal.com.
A Franklin man who police say drove around town Sunday
evening and shot at people and cars with his new airsoft rifles was ordered
held pending a hearing Thursday to determine if he is a danger to the
public.
Scott Haigh, of 685 Pond St., told Franklin police he was
testing two new airsoft guns, which fire plastic airsoft pellets and typically
have an orange or red cap on the barrel, by shooting at street signs.
But according to authorities, as he drove through Franklin
and Bellingham in a brown Chevy van, Haigh, 39, shot an 11-year-old boy in the hand,
as well as at two vehicles.
No one was seriously injured, police said.
At about 6 p.m. on Sunday, police said someone fired at a
vehicle carrying two people that was traveling south on Pond Street. A man and
his son told police they saw someone pointing an airsoft gun at them as they
drove by.
They heard something hit their vehicle, and the son told his
father "that guy just shot at them," police said.
The men and his son told police they had seen a brown van
parked near Donato Drive on the southbound side of the road. But police were
not able to locate a vehicle matching the witnesses' description.
Later, at about 7 p.m., a woman reported that someone drove
by her Pond Street home and shot her grandson him in the hand. She told police
the shot came from a black airsoft gun with a red tip fired from a brown or tan
van.
Police had trouble finding the van so they asked one of the
men in the vehicle that had been fired at on Pond Street car to come with them
in a search.
As they searched on Pond Street, police said, a woman
flagged down the cruiser and said someone in a van had pointed a airsoft gun at
her while she was driving.
Police eventually found the van at 685 Pond St. — Haigh’s
home.
Haigh answered the door and told police he had just been
shooting at street signs, not at people. Police found two airsoft guns inside
identified as the ones used in the incidents.
In addition to a third airsoft gun, police found fireworks.
Police arrested Haigh and charged him with three counts of
assault with a deadly weapon (the airsoft guns), disorderly conduct, disturbing
the peace and unlawful possession of fireworks. Bellingham police said they did
not have any reports of people or cars being shot at.
Haigh pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Monday in
Wrentham District Court. Judge Emogene Johnson-Smith ordered Haigh held without
bail pending the results of a dangerousness hearing Thursday. Haigh's attorney,
Robert Costello, objected to the prosecutor's request to hold his client,
arguing he was not firing at people.
Airsoft guns are legal in the United States, but a federal
law requires the owners to have some kind of colored marking on the barrel.
Airsoft guns, like paintball guns, are not lethal, though the airsoft pellets
can cause bruising.
Matt Tota can be reached at 508-634-7521 or
mtota@wickedlocal.com.
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