Camper faces charges for firing handgun

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http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories...firing-handgun

POSTED ON Wednesday, August 05, 2009 AT 11:22PM

Camper faces charges for firing handgun

Yakima Herald-Republic


EASTON, Wash. -- A camper at Lake Easton State Park apparently asked the wrong man for a cigarette, Kittitas County sheriff's officials say.

A 56-year-old Crete, Ill., man was arrested Tuesday after the victim and his fellow campers alleged that he entered their campsite shortly before midnight Monday and fired a handgun following the request for a cigarette, Sheriff Gene Dana said in a news release.

The man, who had been drinking, also began yelling obscenities at the campers -- a married couple with two children, ages 1 and 3, and another man, Dana said.

He was arrested without incident and booked at the county jail in Ellensburg on suspicion of five counts of felony harassment, five counts of reckless endangerment and one count of unlawful discharge of a firearm. Four firearms were also seized.

"This is scary and stupid. It is fortunate no one was hurt," Dana said in the news release. "With the number of people carrying firearms when they go camping, this guy is lucky he didn't get shot."