Driver’s windshield shattered by shotgun slug near Elk River

Hailey Sheldon was driving her truck north of Elk River Wednesday with her 2 1/2-year-old son, Chase, asleep in a rear car seat, when a shotgun slug shattered her windshield.

By Doug Smith, Star Tribune

Last update: November 10, 2009 - 11:39 AM

Hailey Sheldon was driving her truck north of Elk River Wednesday with her 2 1/2-year-old son, Chase, asleep in a rear car seat, when a shotgun slug shattered her windshield. The lead projectile stayed imbedded in the glass until she got home, then fell onto the hood.

Sheldon, 30, reported the incident to the Anoka County Sheriff's Department. An investigating deputy found no trace of a shooter. No one was hurt.

"I didn't know what happened,'' Sheldon said. "I've never heard anything that loud inside a vehicle. It sprayed glass on me and my son.''

For various reasons -- including the reckless discharge of a firearm -- the incident proved curious:

• Shotgun slugs -- which firearms deer hunters employ in southern Minnesota, but usually not in the north, where longer-shooting rifles are allowed -- usually travel 100 to 150 yards, so the round likely was fired near the highway.

• The regular firearms deer hunting season doesn't begin until Saturday.

• Within five days of the whitetail season, hunters are restricted to target-shoot at authorized gun ranges.

• The slug didn't penetrate the windshield, apparently meaning its energy had been spent and it was falling to the ground when it hit Sheldon's vehicle. "If it had gone through the windshield, it could have hit my son,'' Hailey Sheldon said. She was driving at or near the posted 55 mile-per-hour speed limit when the slug struck. Darrell Sheldon, Hailey's father-in-law, said it appeared the slug was shot straight up into the air. "It came down vertical,'' he said.

"We don't believe it was an attack on that vehicle; it was probably someone shooting without a proper backstop,'' said Lt. Paul Sommer of the Anoka County Sheriff's Department. "It's not illegal to shoot shotguns in that area.''

The incident occurred on County Road 22 in the city of Nowthen, a sparsely populated area, Sommer said.

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