A Houston teen faces multiple felony charges after allegedly firing multiple rounds from an AR-15 into a vehicle last week.
Coltin J.L. Andrews, 17, of 17219 Primrose Drive in Houston, is charged with felonies of armed criminal action, unlawful use of a weapon and property damage, according to the Texas County Sheriff’s Department.
He was charged last Thursday and held on $500,000 bond. He was released after posting bond Friday.
The case began when a deputy was dispatched at 10:40 a.m. March 9 regarding a report of a vehicle that had been shot several times at a Highway M residence at Success.
According to the deputy’s written report, a 21-year-old man who lives there stated that around 10:30 p.m. the night before, a truck had driven slowly past his house and then sped away.
The man said he then heard several gunshots around 1:30 a.m. and stepped out on his porch to see what was going on, but didn’t see anything and went back to bed.
The man stated that when he awoke in the morning, he discovered his 2006 Dodge pickup had been shot numerous times and that air had been let out of the tires of two other vehicles at the location.
The officer removed bullet fragments out of the truck’s dashboard and placed them into evidence. The deputy left the house and returned after about a half hour after the victim called and said he had found shell casings and a cigarette butt next to a fence. The officer determined the casings were Remington .223 caliber, and photographed them and the cigarette butt before collecting them as evidence.
The man then told the officer he thought he knew who had shot his truck, and named Andrews.
A 19-year-old Summersville woman who was with the man told the officer where Andrews lived, and that he had an AR-15 (of the same caliber) and smoked the same brand of cigarettes as the butt that was found. A probable cause statement submitted by the deputy to the county prosecutor stated she is Andrews’ former girlfriend.
A Houston Police Department officer located Andrews in a truck matching the description being driven by another man, and the two were brought to the sheriff’s department for questioning.
During an interview, the driver of the truck said he and Andrews had driven past the victim’s house and Andrews had said he wanted to shoot a gun to scare the occupants.
The driver stated he didn’t want to shoot the gun, but when they stopped at a nearby dirt road, Andrews got out of the truck and took an AR15 with him.
The driver stated he heard seven shots, and that when Andrews returned, he said he had shot the truck and let air out of tires so nobody could give chase.
The AR-15 Andrews allegedly used was recovered and placed into evidence.