Sparks residents fear stray bullets from target shooting near homes

Sparks, Nev. (News 4 & Fox 11) — Nevada's desert is prime space for target shooters. But not everyone is following the law. On the land east of Sparks, residents fear someone will pay the price with their life.

A bullet pierced Mike Coger's front window where his granddaughter normally sleeps. He said the bullet came from people who were target shooting more than a mile away. He said two other neighbors have found bullet fragments at their house too.

"This is the de facto community firing range," he said.

Coger is referring to the canyon east of the sports complex at Golden Eagle Regional Park in Sparks where target shooters frequent. He said he worries every time he rides his mountain bike in the area.

"The shooting just got too much. I mean, I hear bullets crack over my head," he said. "On a weekend, there'll be 30 or 40 different people out here shooting."

The law says people can't fire "a shotgun, air rifle or BB gun within 1,000 feet of any dwelling, and any gun, pistol, rifle or other firearm within 5,000 feet of any occupied dwelling." But residents who live in the vicinity of the sports complex say bullets have been fired over the canyon and landed in their neighborhood.

Target shooters are not only firing weapons too close to homes and people but also firing to the west, in the direction of the homes. There's a hillside that provides a back-stop but Coger said some of those rounds make it over the ridgetop and down into the houses below, like it did with his house.

BLM patrols this area but it's up the Washoe County Sheriff's Office to crack down on the illegal shooting.

"We have issued citations out there. So, most recent just a few weeks ago," said Lt. Chad McKinnon with the Washoe County Sheriff's Department. In Mid-July, volunteers from the Community Emergency Response Team or CERT will blanket the area. They will focus on educating shooters.

"The kids playing in the park is what I'm more worried about, right? Like they don't want to be playing soccer and have a round come flying by their face, you know?" said Lt. McKinnen.

Coger believes the only way to stop illegal and unsafe shooting is by adding more patrols along with citing the illegal shooters.

"Every round that clears this ridge line is dropping on private property and probably within meters of a human being. We're rolling the dice. Every shot that gets out of here is potentially lethal," he said.

Illegal shooting also happens in southeast Reno. Poulakidas Elementary has gone into two code yellow lockdown the past school year because of stray bullets.