What started out as some playful fun among teenage boys turned frightening late Wednesday when a west metro man who feared being burglarized fired his handgun three times into the ground, leading to charges against him.
The 34-year-old Carver man fired the gun after he saw what he thought was a stranger or strangers on the roof of his shed at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to the Carver County Sheriff's Office.
The roof climber was a 16-year-old boy trying to retrieve his hat from the roof.
A group of 15- and 16-year-old boys were sledding nearby when one of the boys threw the hat of another onto the shed roof, the Sheriff's Office said. The hatless 16-year-old boy climbed over a fence, then onto the shed, prompting the man to fire his gun.
The man, Kyle Arthur Jensen, told police he was home with his wife and two children when he "became aware of strangers climbing on a shed roof on his property," the Sheriff's Office said in a news release.
Jensen told authorities he got his 9-millimeter Ruger handgun and went outside, the news release continued. He "called out to the strangers, then fired three shots into the ground." No one was hurt.
Jensen appeared in Carver County District Court on Thursday and was charged with disorderly conduct and unlawful discharge of a firearm in city limits without justification.
