Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
BLANDING — A man was arrested Tuesday after claiming he was asleep in bed when he accidentally fired his gun through a hotel wall.
Richard Stevens Newman, 51, was booked into the San Juan County Jail for investigation of reckless endangerment.
About 8:20 p.m. Tuesday, Blanding police were called to the Rodeway Inn and Suites, 711 S. Main, on a report of shots being fired.
"A loud bang had been heard and the occupants of Room 113 reported that a bullet had passed through their room, striking and penetrating the door to the adjoining room and leaving a dimple in the second door that connects the rooms," according to a police booking affidavit.
An officer determined the shot had come from Room 115, which Newman was renting.
Just as a special emergency response team was about to make entry into the room, "Richard Newman opened his door," the affidavit states. "A Sig Sauer 9mm handgun was sitting on the TV stand with an empty shell casing next to it."
When questioned, Newman claimed "that he had been sleeping and was awakened by a loud bang and he was holding his handgun that had fired. The bullet had penetrated the television and the wall behind it, then crossed an open hallway before entering the next room, which was occupied by three people and was stopped once it had penetrated the door and struck the door behind it," according to the affidavit.
Because Newman allegedly fired into an occupied room, he was placed under arrest.
