Sheriff Vance Hill urges to use extreme caution when discharging a firearm whether hunting or target shooting. Over a two week period deputies have responded to five separate calls located throughout the county concerning irresponsible discharge of firearms. None of the calls are related.

Callers are reporting they could hear nearby gunshots with the whizzing of projectiles passing by. Three of the calls have been tracked down to shooters firing into an unsafe berm or back stop. The others have been from neighbors discharging firearms with a lack of concern or preconceived notions the projectile will not travel as far as it did.

In one case a lady accompanied by small children was struck in her side, outside a residence, by a projectile that was fired approx. 700 yards away.

Some projectiles can travel more than a mile and if a ricochet occurs there is no way of knowing what path or direction the projectile will travel.

You as the shooter are responsible both criminally and civilly for any injury or damaged caused by the projectile, Texas law does prohibit a projectile from crossing your property line onto another’s property or a public roadway.