SALYERSVILLE – The Magoffin County Sheriff Department responded to two shots fired instances this week, one with shots fired into a residence and another with shots made toward vehicles.
In the latter case, police crews were called to Lick Creek on Sunday, February 4, evening at approximately 5 p.m. Magoffin County Sheriff Department Deputy Neil Watson was on patrol on KY Rt. 7 when he was dispatched to the residence of William R. Coffey, 58 years old, of Salyersville.
The caller to 911 reportedly told police he was on his front porch when he witnessed Coffey shooting at cars driving by on Lick Creek. Upon arriving at Coffey’s home, the deputy found him lying, seemingly passed out, on the couch in his living room with a handgun lying beside him.
Police also found spent shell casings on the front porch and by the front door, according to the arrest citation. The front and back doors were both open and, while in the residence another officer found a Diamond Back Manufacturing firearms box lying on the stove. The handgun retrieved was a Walther P22 handgun. The handgun lying beside Coffey was placed in the Diamond Back case and seized as evidence, according to the citation.
No explanation was given in the citation regarding why he was reportedly shooting at vehicles.
Coffey was taken into custody and remains held at the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center as of press time, facing the felony charge of first-degree wanton endangerment. A preliminary hearing in the case is set for February 12 at 9:15 a.m. at the Magoffin County Justice Center.
Regarding the investigation of shots being fired into a home, Magoffin County Sheriff Department responded to a home on Salt Lick where it appeared shots made into the home had come from a high caliber weapon.
Sheriff Bill Meade told Mortimer Media Group he has responded to the location on numerous occasions, and just several days before were dispatched there after a 911 call was made reporting shots fired into the home. They went back on Monday this week after additional shots had been made into the residence.
Sheriff Meade did note that no one has been injured during these instances, but on at least one occasion there were people in the vicinity of this home when it was fired into. People were at home when the shootings occurred, but in the first instance, were in another portion of the home. During the second shooting, there were people standing outside in the direction the shots traveled.
On Tuesday, a man was taken into custody regarding the case and the investigation remains ongoing at press time.
Sheriff Meade indicated there was already paperwork in place to prevent the individual from having a weapon, however, a long rifle was used on multiple occasions to fire into a Salt Lick residence. Meade said there have been multiple occasions and possible multiple locations related to the same shooter, with the first report of shots fired into a residence occurring last week on Salt Lick. The Magoffin County Sheriff Department responded and canvassed the area, but couldn’t find any hard evidence to connect it to someone and no one was injured. On Monday, they received another call.
“We received another shots-fired complaint at the same location,” Sheriff Meade said. “Whenever I arrived, there was an obvious gunshot that had entered the back of the residence and came through the front, and went across the road, striking a metal garage across the road. I was able to recover a spent round at that location. We had received some information on a person of interest and, upon investigating further, the individual has a history of mental health issues and the individual was seen recently in the area with a long rifle. We were able to locate the individual and through the course of our interview that later led to obtaining a search warrant, we were able to locate several rifles at his residence. It’s our belief these were probably the weapons that were used and we will send them off for identification.”
Currently, Sheriff Meade said the suspect has been detained for being a danger to himself and others and that more charges are pending. There is also another investigation into a similar incident at another location where there are several bullet holes in the roof of that structure.
Editor’s Note: The indictment or charge of a person by a grand jury or otherwise is an accusation only and that person is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
