ELDORADO – A scary situation for several people in housing in Eldorado developed late in the evening of July 25, but only resulted in a misdemeanor for the guy who started it all.
Police reports show that the incident was called in at a few minutes before 11 p.m. that Monday night, by a Mark Seely, who stated that Brady Wayne Ashby had a pistol and had fired a shot up at the 1900 N Main Street public housing, and then had gone into apartment 10E.
Eldorado Police Chief Shannon Deuel responded to the location and was met there by Saline County Deputies Lindsey Agin and Logan Leverett; with Deuel taking up a post in the front of the building.
From there, he said, the door to apartment 10E opened up and two females exited, later identified as Jordan Daymon and Danika B. Forrester.
Deuel said he could observe, through the window, three males in the apartment, and Ashby was among the three, so Deuel ordered Ashby out of the apartment.
Ashby and the two females all denied any shots being fired, however.
Deuel referred back to Mark Seely, who stated while on the phone to Deuel that his wife, Vanessa Seely, had been outside and heard a gunshot, then saw Ashby and another guy running to apartment 10E, with Brady toting a pistol in his hand.
When the two females were asked who else was in the apartment, Daymon stated that Tyler Bowlby and another guy, as well as Daymon’s two-year-old son, were there; the baby was asleep. Deuel obtained permission from Daymon to search the apartment for the males, as well as for a pistol, and off they went.
Deuel said he observed Bowlby walking through the house, so he was detained and turned over to Deputy Craig Williams.
Bowlby stated he’d run out the back door and that he was “coming back because he left his girlfriend Danika over here.”
Bowlby, however, did come off the information that Ashby had had a pistol earlier over at his apartment and was walking back over to apartment 10E with the other male; Bowlby said he and his girlfriend were going to drive over there and that’s when they heard the gunshot.
Officer Clint Hooper, Harrisburg police chief Whipper Johnson and deputy Leverett accompanied Deuel into the apartment to locate the other male and the pistol
They found Brian M. Bays in an upstairs bedroom and he was detained.
Deuel then located a HiPoint semi-auto .45-cal pistol and extra magazine in a drawer in the kitchen; the pistol, he noted, was loaded.
Hooper took possession of it and placed it in evidence.
Brian Bays advised that he was with Ashby and they were walking through housing when Ashby pulled out a pistol and fired a shot off; then they ran to apartment 10E.
Ashby was arrested and charged with Reckless Discharge of a Firearm.
Ashby, who at age 24 has no discernable criminal history in the area, is set apart from many others his age in the area who get hemmed up on a similar charge.
However, his financial affidavit shows something typical for his age/area: He’s unemployed and has no source of income whatsoever.
As a result, he was afforded the free services of public defender Nathan Rowland to represent him in court and an August 16 court date was issue.
As well, the unemployed, indigent Ashby was able to find someone to post his $1,000 cash bond so he didn’t have to sit very long at the Saline County Detention Center: Michele Ashby came up with the funds on July 27.