A Battle Ground man was arrested after he allegedly fired a gun early Sunday morning to scare off teens who were in his home.
The homeowner, Billy Franklin Bicknell, 67, said he fired off a shotgun after hearing what he thought was an intruder in his house, at 17414 N.E. 280th St. in Battle Ground, according to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office. Bicknell said he fired the gun in an attempt to scare away a teen who was leaving his house through a window, deputies said.
They said when they responded to the call at about 1 a.m., they discovered that Bicknell’s 15-year-old granddaughter, who lives with him, had invited several teenagers to the home before the incident. Upon hearing Bicknell approach, the teens began jumping out of the home’s second-story window.
Deputies found shotgun-pellet holes near the window, according to the sheriff’s office. They were able to find all of the teens who fled except one, and they feared the missing boy could have been wounded by the shotgun blast. After searching for the missing teen for several hours, he was found away from the scene and was not hurt.