SALINE CO.— Reports of shots fired by a neighbor sent officers to the residence of James Arnold Talkington, 54, of 511 Briddick St., Eldorado, May 10 at approximately 11:30 p.m.
When officer Ryan Ward arrived he found Talkington standing in the open doorway of his home with a pistol in his hand.
Talkington was instructed to put the gun down and keep his hands where Ward could see them. He complied.
Talkington told Ward that there had been a man at his house threatening to kill him but that he could not give any details about the man or who he was.
His claims were quickly backed up by Polly McWilliams, 43, who advised there was a man who had come to the house and made threats but she couldn’t offer any more details about the individual either.
The first version
Talkington told Ward he had heard shots fired outside the house.
When asked what had happened with the man, Talkington said, “I did not shoot at anyone.”
McWilliams said Talkington didn’t shoot “anything” and that it was the guy in the gold car.
Ward then spoke with neighbor Stephanie Mahoney, 43, who had contacted authorities about the gunshots in the first place.
Mahoney said she did see a man at Talkington’s house but that the gunshots came from inside the Talkington house, not outside.
She said the man had driven away in a gold car.
The second version
When Ward went back and confronted Talkington about the neighbors hearing gunshots come from inside the house, not outside, he changed his story and said he had fired the shot from inside the house toward the door when he got excited about the man threatening to kill him.
Talkington told Ward the man was in the car and had something in his hands so he fired two shots where the man was standing.
How the man could be standing and in the car at the same time wasn’t exactly explained.
What was clear to Ward was that Talkington fired the shots in the direction of 510 Briddick St., Talkington’s neighbor’s house.
Once in custody, Talkington’s story changed yet again.
Third and final version
He told officer Ward that he had fired a .22 handgun into the front yard, claiming again that he wasn’t shooting at anyone.
That’s about the time Ward informed Talkington that a neighbor had witnessed him walking back to the house with a long, black rifle and set it on the right hand side of the chair he had been sitting in.
Talkington claimed it was an AR-15 replica.
Further investigation on the part of Ward showed that that handgun was indeed loaded, fully. There were no rounds missing from the clip.
He also located an AR-15 standing against the wall where the neighbor had said they saw Talkington put it, and it was no replica.
Ward also discovered two expended AR-15 rounds on the floor near the inside of the front door.
Ward found no expended .22 rounds.
Both weapons were taken into evidence.
Talkington was booked into the county jail on one count of Reckless Discharge of a Firearm.
He was released from police custody the next day after he posted a $1,000 cash bond.