After Three Day Non-Jury Trial, Man Cleared in Shooting Session Case.
Daily Local article by Michael P. Rellahan.

WEST CHESTER—A Delaware man arrested more than 18 months ago for endangering residents in southern Chester County by firing multiple rounds of ammunition towards their homes has been acquitted of all charges.

On Aug. 18, after a three-day long non-jury trial, Common Pleas Judge Analisa Sondergaard found Patrick Christopher Hayes not guilty on seven counts of recklessly endangering another person and one count of discharge of a firearm into an occupied structure.

Hayes had been arrested in December 2020 after state police were called to a residential area in rural New London for the report of shots fired, and eventually identified Hayes and another man as being responsible for the shots, which they said had struck a house about half a mile from where the men were target shooting.

Hayes’ attorney, Dan Bush of the law firm of Lamb McErlane in West Chester, said his client had not acted maliciously in the incident, and had relied on his friend, Douglas Schubert, a chief warrant officer with the Coast Guard stationed in Philadelphia, that what they were doing was safe and legal.

“This was an accident plain and simple,” said Bush in an e-mail about the case. “While I feel for the homeowners whose houses were struck, I feel for Mr. Hayes too. He took all reasonable precautions to do something which is legal and very common in that area of the county.”

The not guilty verdict absolves Hayes, 39, of Newark, Del., of liability in the case, although he was apparently fired from his job as a telecommunicator with the Chester County Department of Emergency Services soon after his arrest.

“The police jumped the gun charging him without knowing all the facts, causing him to immediately lose his job, and turning his life upside down for the past two years,” said Bush. “Those are the things that people don’t often consider. Even this not guilty (verdict) doesn’t undo those actions.”

A spokeswoman for the D.A.’s Office, Michelle Bjork, defended the officers’ actions.

“We respect the judge’s ruling but believe that the police had more than sufficient evidence to arrest the co-defendants in this case,” she said in an e-mail. “We take our charging decisions very seriously and would not move forward if we felt otherwise.”

Schubert, whose home was the site of the shooting session, pleaded guilty to charges in June and was sentenced to probation.

The defense contended that in an area where target shooting is common, and several residents have ranges on their property, Hayes did everything the law requires of him. He was under the very legitimate belief, from what he was told and shown, that the 150-acre farm which provided a backstop was adequate for the activity. He would have had to know what he was doing was risky to be convicted.

According to a state police press release concerning the incident, police were called to the area of Clearview Lane and Locust Avenue in rural New London the afternoon of Dec. 11, 2020, for reports of shots being fired and bullets striking homes.

When multiple state police troopers responded to the scene, they heard the sound of gunfire, which persisted for about 30 minutes. Troopers then canvassed the area in search of the gunmen. As two troopers investigated, they recognized the sound of bullets passing them in close proximity. The bullets passed close enough that the troopers were able to tell the direction the shots were coming from.

Police said bullets impacted a window and a garage, and three additional residences were struck by bullets. Police continued to interview victims as they widened their search. One of the victims who lives on Locust Drive said they were outside their home when bullets impacted trees nearby, according to reports.

The search brought troopers to a residence on Red Oak Drive, and police spotted the two standing outside. Police approached the men carefully, and the men told troopers they had been target shooting.

Two 9mm handguns, a 9mm rifle, and a .12-gauge shotgun were seized. A search of the area revealed two targets at the edge of a wood line. Shubert and Hayes told police they shot toward the targets, and at times in an upward direction toward a hill that did not provide a backdrop. An extensive search of the property revealed in excess of 100 9mm bullets and over 10 .12-gauge casings.

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