Two arrested for shooting out windows
by Kootenai Valley Record
March 3, 2010
Another report of shot-out windows on Mineral Avenue has landed two men in jail on felony charges.
Dustin A. Steiger, 21, and Robert James Morris, 23, were arrested Sunday, Feb. 21, on charges of felony criminal mischief by police following up on a report that a window had been shot out of a truck parked across the street from the Mint Bar.
In an affidavit filed in justice court in support of the charges, Libby police officer Nathan Kimbro reported that he responded to the Mint around 6:20 p.m. after a caller told the dispatcher at the sheriff’s office that someone had shot out her truck window. About 15 minutes later, Kimbro responded to another report of a suspicious vehicle in the area of Timberline Auto Center. According to the report, the car was running stop signs and speeding, and its occupants were yelling profanities out the window.
Kimbro located a car matching the description at the intersection of U.S. Highway 2 and Louisiana Avenue, and he pulled the car over at the corner of Louisiana and Fifth Street. The driver was identified as Steiger and the passenger as Morris.
Two sheriff’s deputies arrived to assist and searched the car with permission. According to Kimbro’s affidavit and another filed by Deputy Brandon Holzer, two semiautomatic pistol-style BB guns were found on the passenger side of the car, and Steiger told the officers that Morris had been shooting out the window of the car as they drove up and down Mineral Avenue.
The officers later discovered that a number of other windows had been shot out of Mineral Avenue businesses including the Pastime Bar, Managhan’s Furniture, Cabinet Mountain Chevrolet and Cardinal True Value Hardware.
Steiger and Morris made initial appearances last Monday before Justice of the Peace Jay Sheffield. Bail was set at $15,000 for each.
The incident was the third occurrence of vandalism to windows in downtown Libby within the past year. A similar vandalism spree in November resulted in more than $20,000 in damage to windows, and more than $12,000 in damage was recorded in another incident involving broken windows last spring.
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Editor’s Note: See the March 2, 2010 edition of the Kootenai Valley Record for the printed version of this story. The Kootenai Valley Record publishes once a week, on Tuesdays, in Libby, Montana. They are a locally owned community newspaper, located at 403 Mineral Avenue in Libby. For in-county and out-of-county subscription information, call 406-293-2424, or e-mail kvrecord@gmail.com.
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