Bullet ricochets into home
The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department is reviewing its protocol for discharging a weapon, specifically for euthanizing an injured animal, after one of three shots fired by a deputy pierced a metal door and entered a home in Libby.
Lincoln County Deputy Gordon Jessop was called to the area of Education Way and Ski Road after 10 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 8, to euthanize a deer.
According to several accounts, Jessop fired three shots, one of which struck an object on the ground, ricocheted up and pierced the rear door of the home at 16 Ski Road.
Residents of that home, David and Carol Latham, had just settled down for the evening to watch the Canadian Country Music Awards.
“We were sitting, and I hear these shots,” said David Latham. “We have a neighbor who likes to shoot, and we just thought it was him. I hear something in the back of the house that sounded like a broom stick hitting the floor.”
So, Latham got up to investigate. Finding the broom in its proper place, Latham stepped outside on the porch and saw lights, but didn’t think anything more of it.
“We heard the shots but didn’t report it because a couple of our neighbors have fired weapons outside before, and we thought it was one of them,” Latham said.
Moments before, Carol Latham retrieved clothes from the dryer and ook them back to the living room to fold them as they watched television.
What the Lathams didn’t realize until the morning light was one of those bullets entered their home.
“I’m near the door, and I find this bullet on the floor,” David Latham said. “Then I see the lids of the laundry bottles shot off. I look toward the door and see the hole in the door. The trajectory was in line: the door, the bottles, the washer.”
David Latham then recalled his wife had just returned from the laundry area the previous night when the shots were fired.
“I was just there, getting laundry out of the dryer,” Carol Latham said, estimating about two minutes before the shots were fired. “It shot the lids off the jugs, and it could have hit me about here,” said Carol, pointing to about mid-calf.
At this point, the Lathams did not know it was a Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputy’s bullet that pierced their door. However, they did feel the need to file a police report.
According to the Sheriff’s blotter report for Sept. 9, dispatch received a call at 10:30 a.m. Monday, Sept. 9, from the Lathams. The report states: (Reporting party) advised last night disturbance at neighbor’s trailer north of RP. Shots fired. Today found bullet and went through kitchen door, broke lids on detergent in laundry room. Hit wall. RP has the bullet.”
Latham said he didn’t really know the origin of the bullet.
“We were worried that it might have been a drive-by, so we were relieved when the sheriff told us what happened. We’re glad to know it was an accident and there was no criminal activity,” he said.
What happened next was Sheriff Roby Bowe stopped at the Lathams’ business on Mineral Avenue.
“We found out who shot your door. It was one of our deputies,’” David Latham said, quoting Bowe.
Latham added: “The department offered to pay to have the door replaced.”
Asked about the shooting, Bowe said his department needs to make it right.
“Yeah, I told him we’d pay for the door,” Bowe said. “It’s unfortunate. The bullet went down, hit something and deflected back up.”
Bowe said his officers are called upon at all hours of the day to euthanize wild animals.
“We have to. Sometimes, people gather around them and can get hurt. Well-intentioned people can get injured by an animal they might try to help,” he said. “It’s for the public’s safety.”
Bowe said his department is reviewing its policy as officers deal with critically injured wild animals.
Bowe described the incident as unfortunate and said there are no plans to discipline the officer.
David Latham said he understands how an accidental shooting could happen.
“Nobody got hurt,” Latham said. “That’s most important. It’s too bad the deputy couldn’t have fired a few rounds into our bathroom. A new bathroom would have been nice.”