City man fires 6 shots into air
A Butler man is in jail on an unrelated warrant and will face new charges after police say he randomly fired six bullets into the air Monday afternoon along a street in the city's Island neighborhood.
Allen Davon Franklin, 36, of 307 Negley Ave., was arrested Monday afternoon, after police responded to the area of Negley Avenue and upper Shore Street, for a report that a man had fired multiple shots from a handgun and then disappeared into a home on Negley Avenue.
Capt. James Hollobaugh said police received a call at about 1:08 p.m. from a man who had been mowing his grass in the area and saw the gunfire. The caller said a man, later identified as Franklin, walked up behind him, prompting him to drive away. The caller then reported hearing a single gunshot, followed by several more; he told police he then saw the man walk inside a home at 307 Negley Ave.
The gunshots startled utility workers in the area as well, Hollobaugh said. They scattered to vehicles and left the area, but police managed to interview them later and they corroborated the caller's story, Hollobaugh said.
He said witnesses reported seeing Franklin raise his arm in an upward trajectory and then fire six shots from a handgun in a southern direction. No one appeared to have been hurt in the incident, and no property appeared to have been damaged.
Police would later recover six spent .45 ACP casings from the area, Hollobaugh said, and detain Franklin, who was found at his home and initially gave police a fake name.
Hollobaugh said Franklin denied shooting a handgun and refused to give police any information. He was booked into Butler County Prison Monday on a warrant in an unrelated case, Hollobaugh said.
Stemming from the shooting incident Monday, Hollobaugh said, Franklin will face charges of persons not to possess firearms, firearms not to be carried without a license, reckless endangerment and false identification to law enforcement.
