A group of four men from Jefferson Township were charged on Monday, June 24, with reckless endangerment after complaints that bullets from the guns they were firing for target practice traveled beyond their shooting range and caused damage to trees at nearby Laura J. Doerr Memorial Park.

According to the police report, the four — Nikolas Pflueger, Richard Morehouse, Shane Boyd, and Brandon McClain — were on a property in the 700 block of N. Pike Road. On the weekend of June 8 and 9, they were shooting .22-caliber rifles as well as either a 10 mm pistol or a .45-caliber pistol away from the house, toward the direction of the park.

The initial complaint was made by Jefferson Township manager Leo Rosenbauer, who told state troopers a neighbor reported gunfire coming from the property on two separate weekends, and said practice shots were fired toward the park property. The state police later found evidence of fresh bullet damage to three separate trees at the park.

The police report states that the shooting range at the residence had only a small mound of dirt and a wooden pallet as a backstop, which was “not sufficient to stop bullets.”

The house is located next to Doerr Park Drive, an access road into the park. In making his complaint, Rosenbauer said the situation was dangerous because people walk that road every day and could have been hit.

All four are awaiting a preliminary hearing date.