Charges: Spring Lake Park Man Fired Shotgun at Backyard Gathering, Subsequently Blew .262 BAC
By MN Crime Watch, April 16, 2020
A Spring Lake Park man repeatedly asked police if he could have a beer while they were investigating a report that he fired a shotgun during a backyard gathering over the weekend.
Dayton Samuel Koopman, 30, is accused of being intoxicated and firing a shotgun within 150 feet of a nearby residence and within 200 feet of a main county road in the city of Lino Lakes, MN, on Saturday evening.
The Anoka County criminal complaint states that police were called to a neighborhood on the 8000 block of 4th Avenue in Lino Lakes just before 7 p.m. on April 11 after receiving two reports of a gun being fired.
Upon arriving in the area, officers spoke to the first 911 caller who stated that a neighbor’s daughter was having a bonfire and had friends over. Before police arrived, the neighbor had asked the group what they were doing and one of them stated that the blast was a truck backfiring.
The second 911 caller was the mother of the female having the gathering. She told police that she was in the yard and saw Koopman fire the shotgun toward the tree line. She stated that she was very upset that Koopman had brought the gun to her home and that he shot it in the yard.
Officers subsequently located the shotgun in the garage and Koopman admitted it was his and that he fired it at a tree in the yard. While police were interviewing Koopman they observed that he was slurring his speech and was unsteady on his feet, and he repeatedly asked if he could have a beer while police were investigating.
Koopman provided a preliminary breath test that registered a result of .262, which is over three times the legal limit of .08 for driving in Minnesota. Koopman has two prior alcohol related driving convictions.
Koopman has been charged with one felony count of reckless discharge of a firearm within a municipality and one misdemeanor count of violating Lino Lakes’ firearms ordinance.
Koopman made an initial court appearance on Tuesday where he was granted a public defender and was conditionally released from custody on zero bail. His next court appearance is scheduled for June 1.
UPDATE: The charge of felony reckless discharge of a weapon was eventually dismissed in exchange for a plea on a misdemeanor charge of discharge firearms within 750' of building.
Koopman was sentenced to 90 days in jail, but was only ordered to serve the 5 days he’d already spent in jail by Judge Bethany A. Fountain Lindberg.
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