Woman suspects car window shot out

SANDPOINT — A Bonner County woman suspects her car window was obliterated by a stray gunshot last month on Grouse Creek Road.

Laura Taylor said she had just turned onto the road when the passenger-side window of her 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt disintegrated.

“I just heard a loud boom and it was just imploded. Glass was everywhere,” said Taylor.

The incident happened at about 5:30 p.m. on May 8.

“The feeling is that there are people who are target shooting back in that area,” said Taylor.

No projectile was ever recovered, leading Taylor to believe the shot passed by her head and through her opened driver-side window, “which is pretty scary to me.”

Taylor said she is aware of complaints about target shooting in that area and said a sheriff’s deputy investigated the report but she never heard back from the officer.

However, sheriff’s Lt. Ror Lakewold said the deputy could find no evidence that the window was shot out and checked with neighbors, who reported seeing or hearing nothing of the sort.

“Everything was more consistent with a rock either being thrown or picked up along the road,” said Lakewold.

Taylor said there was no other traffic in the area and remains convinced that an errant gunshot is to blame.

Since the incident, Taylor said she’s encountered other residents elsewhere in the county who also reported near misses with stray gunshots.

Lakewold said such incidents are somewhat rare, but not unheard of in Bonner County.