A Warsaw man was jailed for allegedly firing a gun out of his vehicle after another motorist called 911 and reported gunshots.
Thomas Floyd Hooper, 47, of 114 N. Buffalo St., Apt. B, Warsaw, was booked in the Kosciusko County Jail at 7:14 p.m. Dec. 9 and is charged with criminal recklessness while armed with a deadly weapon, a Level 6 felony; carrying a handgun without a license, a Class A misdemeanor; and operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a Class C misdemeanor.
According to the probable cause affidavit filed Jan. 14 in Kosciusko Superior Court I, at 4:18 p.m. Dec. 9 Warsaw police were advised a maroon Chevrolet Tahoe was traveling in the area of Country Club Road and Lakeview Drive shooting a firearm out of the vehicle.
Officers arrived in the area, located the vehicle and conducted a traffic stop. They asked the driver, later identified as Hooper, to step out of the vehicle. As Hooper exited the vehicle, according to court papers, officers observed an empty handgun holster on Hooper.
Hooper denied firing a gun in his vehicle and said his gun was actually at his home and that he did not have a license to carry.
When police spoke with the 911 caller, the man said he was traveling on South Country Club Road in Warsaw when Hooper’s vehicle began driving very closely to his. After being followed for a short time, the man told police he heard a gunshot, looked at the suspect vehicle in his rearview mirror and saw Hooper pointing a gun toward the driver’s door window. The caller said he heard two more gunshots when he called police.
The area where the caller reported hearing the shots is located in an area that had homes on both sides of the road, according to court papers.
Inside Hooper’s vehicle, police found a spent shell casing on the driver’s side floorboard, a bottle of alcohol in the backseat and a Charter Arms Undercover .38 Special revolver on the rear passenger’s floorboard, according to the affidavit. The spent shell casing matched the weapon.
A breathalyzer was administered to Hooper, who blew a .129% BAC, according to court papers. He was then taken to Kosciusko Community Hospital after consenting to blood draw before being taken to KCJ.
His bond was set at $5,250.
