Man who fired gun into the air reaches plea deal

A 34-year-old man who fired a gun into the air during an April 28 fight in Abbotsford has been convicted of reckless endangerment with a dangerous weapon and sentenced to 12 months of probation.

Rene R. Arroyo Rodriguez pled no contest to the misdemeanor charge at an Oct. 15 hearing in Clark County Circuit Court. Charges of obstructing an officer and carrying a concealed weapon were dismissed but read into the record.

Arroyo Rodriguez was not arrested until several days after the incident at the Northside Apartments in Abbotsford, because no one involved in the altercation reported the shooting to police.

An officer saw the muzzle blast while reviewing security footage that captured another suspect, Vidal Lebron Ayala, attacking two different men with a knife in the apartment complex’s parking lot.

Lebron Ayala recently pled not guilty to two counts of attempted homicide and several other charges resulting from the incident.

Arroyo Rodriguez initially denied firing the gun, but after police recovered a Taurus G2C 9mm handgun from his vehicle, he admitted to shooting it into the air in an attempt to stop the knife attack. “Rene said he thought firing a gun up in the air would make everyone stop fighting,” the police report states. When the investigating officer asked if he had a concealed carry license, Arroyo Rodriguez said he didn’t know what that was. The investigating officer told Arroyo Rodriguez that there were better ways to stop a fight than to fire off a gun.

“Rene said he knew that, but his judgement was not good due to consuming alcohol,” the report states.

As conditions of his probation, Arroyo Rodriguez is not allowed to consume alcohol or have contact of any kind with Lebron Ayala. He is also required to submit to random drug and alcohol tests and attend any counseling recommended by his probation agent.

Arroyo Rodriguez was also ordered to forfeit the handgun seized by police, and he was fined $443.