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2 OH women allegedly shot in air near juveniles

Posted at 5:28 PM, May 10, 2016
and last updated 2016-05-10 17:30:47-04

Two women who were angry about noise allegedly shot guns in the vicinity of juveniles in Geauga County on Friday and Saturday, according to the sheriff's Office.

Authorities said Tina Bice of Montville Township allegedly shot a 380 caliber handgun multiple times in the air on May 6 because she was angry about the noise teenagers were making. 

A grandmother from Montville Township called the sheriff's office at around 11:05 p.m. to report that her grandchildren were camping out in tents when the woman allegedly shot her weapon while screaming for them to get off the property.
 
Four of the campers were 18-years-old and one was 14-years old, according to the grandmother. 
 
Bice was arrested for menacing, but the incident occurred in an area where firearms are permitted, according to the sheriff's office.
 
Another Geauga County woman accidentally shot a 14-year-old girl in the hand with a softgun in Munson Township on May 7, according to authorities. The neighbor allegedly was shooting rubber pellets at chickens that she thought were making too much noise, according to authorities.
 
It was a neighbor problem, according to the sheriff's office, which added that the woman doesn't like chickens in her yard and was trying to scare them back into the girl's yard. She reportedly fired in the air at the chickens and did not try to shoot them.
 
Authorities said the girl's hand was red after being hit but her skin was not broken. The family declined to have her transported to a hospital.
 
Multiple townships in Geauga County allow citizens to shoot guns, but they shouldn't fire them into the air, the sheriff's office said.
 
On Friday and Saturday officers also received complaints about shootings from three additional people. One caller said they did not feel safe because a neighbor was shooting toward their back yard. A second person complained of hearing constant shooting near a trailer park in Burton Township, and another reported hearing rapid gunfire in Burton Township.
 
Police did not find two of the people who were allegedly shooting. They did, however, locate a man who was shooting off his porch in Huntsburg Township. The neighbor who had complained of feeling unsafe was advised that his neighbor was shooting into a backstop and that there was no noise ordinance in the township.
 
Citizens in many townships can shoot guns in their yards, be the pellets or semiautomatics, if they are shooting at targets with backstops authorities stated.