Jerry Lucas
COLUMBUS, Ind. — Court hearings have been postponed a few weeks for a 74-year-old Columbus resident accused of initiating a 3½-hour standoff with the local SWAT team last Thanksgiving.
Jerry Lucas, 74, of 6560 W. State Road 46, is charged with attempted murder as a Level 1 felony and battery by means of a deadly weapon as a Level 5 felony.
Although a change of plea hearing was scheduled in Bartholomew Superior Court 1 for Monday, the defense asked for and received a continuance on the hearings late last week.
The change of plea will be held during the already-scheduled pre-trial conference on April 10 at 9:30 a.m, while the jury trial is tentatively set for 8:30 a.m. April 25.
On the night of Nov. 24, a female caller told emergency dispatchers her husband was being fired upon while he and their daughter were using a golf cart to search for the family cat, according to court documents.
The father later told investigators he heard three gunshots and believed he and his daughter were being fired upon by Lucas, according to court documents.
While driving back home, the father saw Lucas at the back of his residence with a rifle in his hands, the probable cause affidavit states. The victim said he saw a muzzle flash and heard a fourth gunshot before he was hit by shrapnel, police reports state. The father yelled he was shot, told his daughter to cover herself, and told his daughter to get down and cover herself before he yelled to his wife to call 911, according to the affidavit.
When the local SWAT team arrived, there was a lengthy standoff that ended when Lucas surrendered, investigators said.
Lucas told police he shot one to two times toward a flashlight he believed to be neighbors trespassing on his property, but his third shot was toward a maple tree, the affidavit states.
