Wayward bullet leads to charges

A 24-year-old Oak Harbor woman is accused of endangering the lives of two people by shooting a gun outside of a SW Harrier Circle apartment July 29, court documents show.

Police say the bullet passed over a man’s head and through the bedroom where a neighbor was sleeping.

Prosecutors charged Jennifer Talya in Island County Superior Court Aug. 1 with unlawful possession of a firearm in the second degree and two counts of reckless endangerment. The unlawful possession charges stem from the fact that Talya was previously convicted of a felony and was barred from possessing a firearm, according to police.

A report by Detective Mike Bailey states that Talya’s 25-year-old boyfriend told police that he had been arguing with Talya early in the morning of July 29. He admitted that he may have struck her when he was pushing her away.

The man said he went out on the back porch and Talya asked to use his cell phone, which he didn’t have on him. He said he heard a gunshot and turned around to see Talya holding a handgun, the report states.

Talya admitted that she shot the gun over the man’s head, toward a stump in the backyard, the report states. She said she did it because he wouldn’t give her the cell phone and because “she was intoxicated and wasn’t thinking clearly,” Bailey wrote.

At the scene, the officers arrested Talya on suspicion of felon in possession of a handgun and reckless endangerment. They also arrested the man on suspicion of fourth-degree assault, domestic violence.

The next day, a woman who lived in a neighboring home reported that a bullet had entered her home. The woman woke up in the morning to find bullet holes in her bedroom. Investigators concluded that the bullet from Talya’s gun entered the house through a wall and went into the ceiling, court documents say.

If convicted of the charges, Talya could face up to a year in jail.

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