Log In


Reset Password
Archive

Sandy Hook Man Arraigned On Gun Charge

Print

Tweet

Text Size


Sandy Hook Man Arraigned On Gun Charge

By Andrew Gorosko

DANBURY — At his arraignment this week in Danbury Superior Court, a Sandy Hook man learned that he will be represented by a public defender in the criminal case stemming from his allegedly firing a rifle on his property last month, across the street from Newtown High School.

Kevin Fitzgerald, 46, of 21 Berkshire Road was arraigned Tuesday on charges of second-degree reckless endangerment, unlawful discharge of a firearm, and breach of peace.

Mr Fitzgerald asked that his current bail bond of $10,000 be lowered, but a judge declined to do so, a court spokeswoman said. Mr Fitzgerald was released from police custody after posting that bail.

Mr Fitzgerald is scheduled to return to court on May 2, when a public defender will be representing him.

About noon on March 31, responding to a report of a man handling a rifle in the vicinity of the high school, waves of town police and state police went to the area, blocking off Berkshire Road and then focusing their investigation at the man’s house across the street from the high school.

Police had received a report that there was “a man in a van with a rifle” sitting in the parked vehicle with its door open, across Berkshire Road from the high school.

As a precaution, all seven public schools briefly entered “lockdown” mode during the incident. Lockdown requires that all students to go to secure areas in the schools and be locked inside until a crisis passes.

The first police officer who arrived at 21 Berkshire Road heard a shot being fired, police have said. Mr Fitzgerald allegedly shot a bullet into a tree on his property. The .30-30 rifle used by Mr Fitzgerald was found and seized at his home, police have said.

When confronted by police, Mr Fitzgerald surrendered without incident and was compliant.

As a result of the incident, school officials are planning a system through which local private and parochial schools, as well as preschools, would be notified by telephone in the event that there is an emergency in which the public schools are in lockdown mode.

Comments
Comments are open. Be civil.
0 comments

Leave a Reply