Bail set at $100K for shooting suspect

SANDPOINT — Bail stands at $100,000 for a Sandpoint man accused of opening fire on another man during a night of heavy drinking.

Homer James Shinn IV is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Judge Barbara Buchanan sustained Shinn’s bail on Tuesday and ordered a public defender to represent him. Shinn is also forbidden from contacting the 29-year-old man he is accused of shooting at.

A preliminary hearing to determine if Shinn should be tried on the felony assault charge is pending.

Shinn, 19, was taken into custody early Monday morning, after Judge Debra Heise approved warrants for his arrest and the search of his apartment in the Elliott Hotel.

A Bonner County Sheriff’s Emergency Response Team executed the warrants by deploying a noise flash diversionary device in an open window and then breaching the apartment’s door.

More details about the incident emerged Tuesday through unsealed probable cause hearing testimony.

Sandpoint Police responded to the Elliott after a neighbor reported hearing gunfire and finding bullet holes in an air conditioning unit at about 2:39 a.m.

Officer Michael Hottman told Heise he encountered the 29-year-old man, who told him he was on a ladder outside the apartment window when Shinn came through the window from inside with a .22-caliber rifle and fired two shots at him.

“He told me that he could hear the rounds either ricocheting or hitting solid objects around him,” Hottman testified.

It was not clear from the testimony what the man was doing on the ladder, which was estimated to be about 10 feet away from the window.

A 19-year-old woman who was also inside the apartment fled and told police she saw an armed Shinn lean outside the window and fire two shots.

Both witnesses indicated they feared for their safety, according to Hottman’s testimony. It was also believed that a man and a woman, both 23, remained in the apartment with Shinn after the shots rang out, Hottman told the court.

Hottman said Shinn and the woman who remained inside tried to call the alleged victim on his mobile phone, but police would not allow him to answer the calls for fear that Shinn would discover police were outside.

The victim also told police Shinn had a loaded 12-gauge shotgun, which was found in the search along with the .22 rifle.

“Because of the two firearms, I’m worried about officer safety and the safety of the two people inside,” Hottman said in explaining his request for a no-knock warrant from Heise.

Officers staked out entrances and exits to the building and the warrants were secured at about 6 a.m., court records show. Sheriff’s ERT members conducted their SWAT-style takedown shortly before 7:30 a.m.

One of the witnesses told police Shinn becomes volatile when he drinks and described him as mentally unstable. Hottman said his department’s prior dealings with Shinn tended to support the latter description.

An obituary published in The Daily Bee indicated Shinn’s father died on Aug. 2 after a long illness.

Sandpoint Chief Mark Lockwood downplayed characterizations of the incident as a standoff, and said there was no initial confrontation or an ensuing stalemate.

“It’s a stretch (to call it a standoff) because I don’t think he even knew we were there, which we liked. We did not make contact until we made entry,” Lockwood said.