Austin man who allegedly pointed a gun at neighbor charged with 7 counts
Published 4:31 pm Wednesday, April 17, 2024
- Herald file photo
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A man who allegedly threatened another with a gun as part of an ongoing dispute has been charged with several counts over the incident in Mower County District Court.
John Bradley Shea, 42, of Austin has been charged with seven counts, four of which are felonies including threats of violence and fourth degree assault of a peace officer.
He’s also facing gross misdemeanor charges for fourth degree assault and obstructing the legal process-interfering with a peace officer.
Finally, he’s been charged with a single misdemeanor of fifth degree assault.
According to the court report, Shea was arrested on April 15, after Austin Police officers were dispatched to a 911 hang-up in the 600 block of 11th Avenue SW. When officers arrived they talked with a man who said that Shea allegedly pointed a gun at him after a confrontation between the two.
The victim said he was in his backyard, working on a bike, when Shea, who lives across the alleyway, began making racial slurs for being Mexican. Victim denied knowing how the argument started as he had headphones in at the time.
The victim said that he noted that a gun was visible in a holster and that Shea took the gun out, cocked it and pointed it at him. At the time this was going on, the victim’s son and a friend were playing on a trampoline and his mother was also in the backyard.
Both officers responding to the incident tried making contact with Shea, who asked them what they wanted while keeping his hands in his pockets. According to the complaint, Shea became confrontational and claimed that the victim was physically threatening him.
One of the officers asked Shea to remove his hands from his pockets to which Shea said “No.” Shea lunged for the door as the officer tried reaching for the defendant’s right hand. The officer pursued Shea into the vestibule where Shea struggled with him, eventually going to the ground and into a wall.
Eventually, the officer was able to Taze Shea and the struggling decreased. The officer received cuts to knuckles on two of his fingers and marks near the elbow. Shea was taken to Mayo Clinic Health Systems-Austin to be medically cleared.
When questioned, Shea claimed the victim had spray-painted his vehicle and that drug addicts frequent the home and are up all night running drugs. However, while at the hospital, Shea was guarded by a pair of officers, one of which was of Hispanic descent.
According to the court complaint, one of the officers observed that Shea would only interact with the other officer and would give the officer of Hispanic descent dirty looks.
After Shea was taken into custody, his teenage daughter was interviewed and said that Shea had told her that victim was “talking crap,” and was threatening to beat him up. He also told her that he had pulled his gun on the neighbor.
However, the daughter told the questioning officer that she was upstairs in the home and didn’t see the incident.
A search of the home turned up firearms and ammunition along with two body armor vests and other accessories, however, it was determined that the guns were not real firearms and they required CO2 cylinders
Shea’s next appearance will be on April 29 for an initial appearance.
Shea is currently being held on $50,000 bail without conditions or $15,000 with conditions.