CRESTWOOD, Ky. — A man from Oldham Co. is charged after accidentally shooting his neighbor in the head, sending her to the hospital.
The Oldham Co. police got a call someone in Crestwood had been shot in the head.
"Luckily it was a very superficial wound. However, it could have been a lot worse than it was," Major Neil Johnson said.
Police said 56-year-old Horia Dugala had been target practicing in his yard on Cedar Circle around 6:30 Monday night. Police said he was firing off multiple rounds from a 40 caliber handgun.
The next yard over, was a 22-year-old woman, her three-year-old daughter, and two others also outside.
"They heard bullets starting to come through the trees. They attempted to get the neighbor's attention to ask him to quit," Johnson said. "Either a round or a piece of a round had actually traveled into the neighbor's yard."
The man hit the 22-year-old, but before arriving, police said he intentionally moved the target to appear as if he was shooting in a safe direction.
"People don't realize a lot of times that bullets just don't stop. Something has to stop them. It's not unusual out here to have people target shooting and it's always important to know what you're shooting at, what's behind it and what's between it," Johnson said.
"Just because you have a backstop or a berm or whatever, all it takes is when you're shooting, bam, and then your hand is up here and you pull the trigger inadvertently, it can go anywhere," Barry Laws, owner of Crestwood's Openrange gun range, said.
Police said Dugala was also target shooting without a proper backstop.
"When you get into the higher calibers, like a 40 cal. that this gentleman was shooting, you need a substantial piece of wood to stop that," Laws said. "Your backstop is absolutely necessary and you can't make any mistakes."
Laws said even though target shooting isn't unusual in Oldham Co., all precautions are still necessary.
"We live in a civilized area. We're just not out in the country," he said. "There's nowhere in Kentucky you can really look a mile radius and not hit somebody. you've got to be very careful where you're shooting those things."
Oldham Co. police said there wasn't any neighborhood dispute involved, just an "unsafe situation."
The woman hit in the head was released from the hospital.
Dugala is charged with first-degree wanton endangerment and tampering with physical evidence.
He admitted to police he had been shooting in the direction of his neighbors.
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