A Syracuse man was booked into the Davis County Jail Saturday after police say he got drunk and shot up a meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in his neighborhood.
The man, 21, used an AK-47 assault rifle to put more than one dozen rounds of bullets into the church, Syracuse Police Sgt. Mark Sessions said. The man, who has a concealed weapons permit, also admitted to opening fire with a Beretta .40 caliber handgun.
The shooting took place sometime after midnight Friday, Sessions said. No one was in the church at the time and no one was injured.
A group of people arriving to play basketball at the church Saturday morning contacted police, Sessions said. Two large windows were broken and numerous bullets were lodged in the building walls. Damage to the church is estimated at about $1,000.
The church is in a rural area of Syracuse without many nearby buildings, so it was not difficult for police to determine the direction from which the bullets might have come, Sessions said.
"It was either a drive-by or something close and we found it to be the latter," he said.
Police found shell casings from AK-47 bullets in the driveway of the man's home, which is just northwest of the church building. Police arrested the man and confiscated both his guns and his concealed weapons permit
The man was booked into the Davis County Jail on suspicion of discharging a weapon with in 600 feet of a building, a class B misdemeanor, and criminal mischief, a class A misdemeanor.
A second man, who witnessed the shooting, was also arrested and booked into jail on suspicion of obstruction of justice, a class B misdemeanor, and criminal mischief. Sessions said the man refused to cooperate with police when questioned about the incident.