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Teens allege man pointed gun at them

Cobra469

Regular Member
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Jan 28, 2010
Messages
218
Location
West Allis, WI, , USA
http://www.livinglakecountry.com/lakecountryreporter/news/99241559.html

Delafield
Teens allege man pointed gun at them
Leader of closing gun club accused for threat

By Kelly Smith

Posted: July 26, 2010

City of Delafield — One of the leaders of the movement to shut down a local gun club has been accused of using his own high-powered revolver to threaten two 13-year-old girls during a neighborhood incident on June 29.

Police Chief Scott Taubel said the Waukesha County District Attorney's office will decide whether to prosecute Richard "Rick" Simmons on charges that he used a dangerous weapon to endanger the teenagers in the neighborhood near the gun club.

Simmons, in April, presented the plan commission with a detailed outline of alleged violations of the conditional use permit issued by the city to the Hartland Sportsmans Club.

The day after that hearing, a 37-year-old, 17-week pregnant woman sitting on the outdoor dinning patio of nearby restaurant the Delafield Brewhaus was struck by a .45 caliber bullet that, according to police, escaped the gun club's firing range.

The accidental shooting incident, along with the evidence submitted by Simmons and his neighbors, prompted city officials to revoke the gun club's permit.

The teenagers involved in the June 29 incident made no mention of Simmons use of a gun when they spoke to police the night of the incident, according to Taubel.

The girls lodged the complaint the following week after the father of one of the girls asked police to conduct a further investigation.

Lake Country Publications is not identifying the three girls involved in the incident because they are juveniles.

"He was pointing the gun at us and saying something about a Castle Law and he had a right to shoot us … he was holding it like two or three feet from our heads," one of the girls told police.

"He kept swearing at us and yelling. Then we saw the gun in his hand and it was pointed at us," the other girl told police.

Simmons, 65, of Broken Bow Drive in the Cherokee Hills Subdivision, emphatically denied the charges.

"It is all lies. There is no way that I would stand a few feet away from a 13-year-old girl and point a loaded gun at her head," said Simmons, a gun enthusiast who is licensed in several states to carry concealed weapons.

Simmons said the gun never left its holster. He said he pointed the gun while it was in the holster over the heads of "some dark objects that were crouching in the woods."

He said he placed the gun and holster back on his belt as soon as he realized the "dark objects" were two teenagers.

According to police, Simmons and his wife Marlene were returning home from dinner when they noticed three unidentified individuals carrying a large object running across their property.

Marlene Simmons called 9-1-1 and retrieved from the truck of their car a .32 caliber Smith and Wesson revolver.

She told police she loaded the gun, returned it to the holster and gave the gun in the holster to her husband.

Simmons told Lake Country Publications she and her husband are disabled senior citizens who have been concerned about recent vandalism in the neighborhood and reports of a series of burglaries in Lake Country.

Her husband, with gun in holster, began following the three fleeing individuals toward woods near the back of their property.

Simmons said two of the three teenagers emerged from the woods after he had yelled a warning and a command at them.

The third girl ran away in an opposite direction.

Police arrived as Marline Simmons was watching over the girls while Richard Simmons went into the house to establish if anything had been stolen or damaged.

The girls told police that they had left a birthday party and were cutting across the Simmon's property on their way to another girl's house.

"When they pulled into the driveway, he yelled 'What are you doing?' We got scared so we ran away in the woods," one of the girls said in the police report.

The three had picked up a road barrier as they were crossing the property and dropped it when they ran to the woods.
 
M

McX

Guest
horrible time to ask this question, but; i could use an answer to this; can we point, without intent to discharge, our firearm at a group of individuals who we believe have committed a crime, for control purposes, and for our personal safety?

someone should tell me to shut up.
 

Cobra469

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West Allis, WI, , USA
I am trying to figure out why a person would point a holstered firearm at an unidentified person in the woods. How is it going to do you any good holstered? I don't believe the teenagers or I believe they would have said something prior. The Castle Doctrine doesn't apply here and I am sure that majority of firearms carriers know that. So why would a person who hold various CC permits cite a law that is non-existent in the state of Wisconsin? I suppose he may have believed that the states his permit is valid for has one but.....To me it sounds like something a parent thought about to embellish the story later.

If it was me and I saw multiple subjects run through my yard and were hiding in the woods, lurking so to speak, I think I would draw my weapon to keep them in the woods while I retreated inside to call 911. But that is hindsight to this situation as truly how do I know they didn't run out of my house and somebody is still there? I can see an argument for either way but who knows.
 

Teamtnt2004

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2010
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Location
Janesville, Wisconsin, USA
I am trying to figure out why a person would point a holstered firearm at an unidentified person in the woods. How is it going to do you any good holstered? I don't believe the teenagers or I believe they would have said something prior. The Castle Doctrine doesn't apply here and I am sure that majority of firearms carriers know that. So why would a person who hold various CC permits cite a law that is non-existent in the state of Wisconsin? I suppose he may have believed that the states his permit is valid for has one but.....To me it sounds like something a parent thought about to embellish the story later.

If it was me and I saw multiple subjects run through my yard and were hiding in the woods, lurking so to speak, I think I would draw my weapon to keep them in the woods while I retreated inside to call 911. But that is hindsight to this situation as truly how do I know they didn't run out of my house and somebody is still there? I can see an argument for either way but who knows.

Yeah I got to say that this sounds like something the girl's Father conjured up. A week later? C'mon! He had plenty of time to do a little research about a "castle doctrine". Although I will agree that him saying he pointed his gun in the holster at the trees sounds like a load of crap too. There is absolutely no benefit from doing. And if he really thought he was in danger, he would've taken it out of the holster. Both parties are lying.
 

hardballer

Regular Member
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Jul 16, 2009
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West Coast of Wisconsin
Yeah I got to say that this sounds like something the girl's Father conjured up. A week later? C'mon! He had plenty of time to do a little research about a "castle doctrine". Although I will agree that him saying he pointed his gun in the holster at the trees sounds like a load of crap too. There is absolutely no benefit from doing. And if he really thought he was in danger, he would've taken it out of the holster. Both parties are lying.
All sounds curious. I sure hope the teens and dad are not lying. That would send a very bad message. I can believe the old fellow because I knew a guy that at one time I called friend, who would lie for just about any purpose. He believed the ends justified the means, especially if it meant money in his pocket. I eventually left him in my wake after he "borrowed" from me under the auspices of buying the item eventually. Two years later, I retrieved my item.

This is why we have recorders and cameras.
 
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Shotgun

Wisconsin Carry, Inc.
Joined
Aug 23, 2006
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2,668
Location
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
.32 caliber revolver? high-powered? .32 S&W? No! .32 S&W Long? No! .32 Long Colt? No! .32 H&R Magnum? No!

.327 Federal Magnum -- depends upon one's definition of "high-powered." I guess compared to the other listed above.
 

Cobra469

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2010
Messages
218
Location
West Allis, WI, , USA
Thought it was also interesting that he would point a firearm above the heads of shadowy figures. What happened to "know your target and what is beyond?" Even though I probably would have unholstered as well and probably pointed my weapon in the general direction I would most definitely not be quoted as aiming above the shadowy heads. That would have the my firearm blocking my view of the POSSIBLE target. Pointing at the feet I could raise the 1 inch in a heartbeat if needed but would not be directly at the person if an accident occurred or whatever the situation.

Regardless I feel the old man is twisting the facts to cover his @$$ but think the teenagers are lying like their parents told them too. After all that has happened with the gun club this makes me think it is an anti trying to make the owner look incompetent to ensure the gun club doesn't reopen as well as make gun owners look crazy paranoid.
 

BJA

Campaign Veteran
Joined
May 4, 2008
Messages
503
Location
SOuth Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Remember Simmons, the guy who is believed to have pointed the gun at the girls was fighting to have the shooting range closed. Even before the incident with the pregnant woman occured.

This simmons guy seems like a real idiot.... this is why I believe so:
1: he fought to revoke the gun clubs permit, even before the incident
2: he wrongfully believes there is a castle doctrine
3: it appears he keeps his main defensive weapon in the trunk of his car
4: he points a holstered gun at darkness

^ he should probobly stick to squirt guns until he actually learns how to be a gun owner and not a hypocrite trying to revoke the permit of a shooting range that was there long before they were.... he probobly has some hunting rifles and believes that the 2nd ammendment is for hunting only.
 
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