Jerry Lucas
The Bartholomew County Prosecutor’s Office on Wednesday filed formal charges of attempted murder and battery by means of a deadly weapon against a local man who is accused of engaging in a 3½-hour standoff with the SWAT team Thanksgiving night after a report of shots fired.
Jerry Lucas, 74, Columbus, was charged in Bartholomew Circuit Court, after his arrest in the area of 6530 W. State Road 46 in Columbus at 10:50 p.m. Thursday, according to court documents.
Columbus police were sent to the scene after a woman reported that her husband had possibly been shot, or at least shot at, by their neighbor, Lucas, of 6560 W. State Road 46.
When officers arrived, the man who was shot at advised he and his daughter were looking for their cat on their property and in another neighbor’s property, with that property owner’s permission. They were using a golf cart with a spotlight because it was dark. While looking for the cat, they heard three gunshots and believed the shots were being fired at them, according to the probable cause affidavit.
As they were making their way home, they saw Lucas at the back of his residence with a rifle in his hands, according to the probable cause affidavit. The victim said he saw a muzzle flash and heard a fourth gunshot, and he was hit by shrapnel, the affidavit states. He began yelling he was shot and told his daughter to get down and cover herself and then yelled to his wife to call 911.
When officers arrived, they were unable to make contact with Lucas, but they confirmed he was still in his home by making contact with Lucas’ son by telephone, the affidavit states. The son told police Lucas owns a .22-caliber rifle and a shotgun.
After a search warrant was granted, the standoff ended when Lucas surrendered and was taken into custody, investigators said.
Lucas told investigators that he shot one to two times toward a flashlight he believed to be on his property, and that he was shooting toward a maple tree on his property, the affidavit states. He said he thought the person with the flashlight might have been one of his neighbors, according to the affidavit, giving investigators their first names.
The affidavit mentions there was a previous incident involving Lucas and the victim that occurred in May 2015 in which Lucas pointed a long gun at the neighbor for playing his music too loudly, the affidavit states. The incident was reported to the sheriff’s department.
In video from the 2015 incident, Lucas is heard telling the victim, “Shoot you and your whole (expletive deleted) family. All of you. Believe that.”
Lucas was being held Thursday in the Bartholomew County Jail in lieu of $750,000 bond.
