Shot fired at ground ricochets into car

RUSSELLVILLE — A New Hope man is facing a felony charge of discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle after the bullet he fired at the ground ricocheted and entered the car of his neighbor.

Franklin County Sheriff’s Sgt. Kyle Palmer said Clayton Odell Gibson, 30, had been in an ongoing neighborly dispute that led him to claim that he was afraid of some dogs.

He fired at them on April 17 on Alabama Highway 11 just outside of Red Bay.

Gibson allegedly fired a shot at the ground toward his neighbor’s dog, but instead it ricocheted and struck his neighbor’s vehicle as she was driving out of her driveway.

The bullet entered the neighbor’s vehicle as the neighbor was driving out of her driveway.

The neighbor told sheriff’s deputies that her dog was running beside her car and was nowhere near Gibson.

“Deputies searched the ground looking for where the bullet may have ricocheted, but didn’t find anything,” Palmer said.

The neighbor suffered minor injuries from the glass breaking from the bullet. She was not transported to the hospital, Palmer said.

Deputies did find the bullet inside her car.

Gibson was arrested and charged with shooting into an occupied vehicle, reckless endangerment and thirddegree criminal mischief.

He was booked into the Franklin County Jail and released on April 20 on a $8,000 bond, according to court records.

He is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing at the Franklin County Courthouse on May 28.