Posted on 04/04/2012 2:32:28 PM PDT by marktwain
State District Court Judge Richard Price on Wednesday granted a temporary restraining order requiring A Place to Shoot gun range to close its rifle section following two reports of stray bullets by the Mission Del Lago municipal golf course.
Municipal Golf Association-SA filed for the restraining order after golfer Justo Flores, 31, was struck by a stray bullet when visiting the course on March 4, and two golf course employees reported on Monday that they heard rifle shots and felt a bullet whiz past them.
When Jim Roschek, president and CEO of Alamo City Golf Trail, which supervises the city courses, heard of the employees' report Tuesday morning he shut down the course by noon, forcing roughly 120 golfers to leave the course.
The golf course reopened by 1 p.m. Wednesday when the gun range voluntarily closed its rifle section prior to getting the written restraining order from the court, Roschek said.
The pistol, shotgun and archery ranges at A Place to Shoot will remain open.
“It's a credit to them,” Roschek said about the early closing. “I don't know for certain the rifle shot came from there. I'm just suggesting it's the first place logically to look.”
The South Side golf course in the 1200 block of Mission Grande Road is fewer than two miles away from the shooting range on Pleasanton Road but Mitchell Lake and a stretch of wooded area separates the two.
There is no evidence the range is the source of the stray bullet that hit Flores, said Robert Wilson, the attorney representing the shooting range.
“There were assumptions and beliefs,” Wilson said.
Wilson said an expert testified the range was safe and questioned the science behind one witness's testimony that he heard a rifle shot and then felt a bullet. Bullets often travel faster than the speed of sound, according to Wilson's expert.
Two golf course employees testified at Wednesday morning's hearing but Roschek said they will bring experts to testify when the two sides meet again on March 23 for a hearing on a temporary injunction.
Whether what whizzed by the two employees golfing at the 15th hole on Monday was definitely a bullet is one thing but there's no doubt a stray .223-caliber round had to be removed from Flores' sternum.
Flores didn't return calls for comment Monday.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said the detective assigned to Flores' case conducted an in-depth investigation and has concluded there is no way to determine where the bullet originated.
“You could draw 180 (degrees) around the golf course from where the victim was hit and basically (the bullet) could have come from anywhere,” McManus said.
The wooded area is popular for hunting and Wilson said employees at the range have heard gunshots coming from the north and south of the business.
The SAPD Training Academy, which does have an open shooting range, is to the north of the golf course. McManus said their range wasn't open when the incidents occurred.
As the two sides battle it out in court, shooters need to consider not just what they can see but what they can't.
“Where is that bullet going to go if you miss your target,” McManus said. “If you are aiming at a hog and miss, where will the bullet go? If you are aiming at a bird where does that bullet drop?”
mmondo@express-news.net
“Sandy, correct me if I’m wrong. But if we kill all the golfers...”
Two miles. I doubt .223 would do that through the woods. I’ve had those deflected by a grass blade. Two miles probably exceeds .50BMG range
Anybody looked into Flores’ background? Maybe it was a failed hit.
Two miles is easy with a 223. It all depends on the angle. Heck a high velocity 22 long rifle has a 1 1/2 mile warning on the box.
3600 meters is 2.23 miles.
M16/A2 shoots a 5.56mm/.223 cartridge:
28
Describe the ranges for the M16/A2 Rifle.
* Maximum Range - 3,600 meters
* Max Effective Range for a Point Target - 550 meters
* Max Effective Range for an Area Target - 800 meters
http://www.armystudyguide.com/content/army_board_study_guide_topics/m16a2/m16a2-study-guide.shtml
At max range the .223 55 grain bullet would be traveling at 545 fps.
Possible, more likely random violence or a stray bullet from hunting or informal shooting.
308 million people, some strange things are going to happen.
...I can get out of jury duty on Monday morning?
-PJ
Go to the range’s website to read their side of this - it won’t make pleasant reading for pro-2A types, but nobody who’s lived in SA since Chairman Julian got elected mayor will be much surprised (”Rifle Range Legal Action” under the Home link).
Well that would probably explain why he could see and pull the
round out of his sternum. At 500 fps it was essentially
moving at about the speed of a mid power BB gun.
That would seriously hurt...55 gr 223 at 500 FPS whacking you
in the sternum. Of course 500FPS beats 2000 FPS in the
sternum every day of the week...
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