CLEARFIELD — Criminal charges were filed Thursday against a Clearfield man accused of firing several rounds at people whom he had asked to leave his house, shooting one person in the arm.
Michael Eric Hernandez, 21, is charged in 2nd District Court with attempted aggravated murder, a first-degree felony; obstructing justice, a second-degree felony; and five counts of discharge of a firearm, a third-degree felony.
Police say “dozens” of people attended a party Sunday at a house where Hernandez was renting a room. At some point during the night, a complaint was made about one of the guests. Hernandez and the homeowner went to the front porch to talk to people and started asking guests to leave.
Hernandez asked four men on the front porch to leave, police say. That led to an argument and a physical confrontation and to Hernandez being punched in the nose, according to charging documents.
“The four males turned and began to leave, headed together to their car. Meanwhile, Hernandez entered the home, went to his bedroom, retrieved his handgun, returned outside, made his way some 25 feet to the corner of the yard and fired off at least five rounds at the four males who were leaving,” the charges state.
One man was hit in the arm. “Fortunately for him, the round that struck him created a through-and-through wound and did not lodge in his body,” according to the charges.
When police arrived, Hernandez denied his involvement and allegedly gave officers several stories. “After more investigation, however, police learned that Hernandez had lied to and misled them,” the charges say.
Even after finally admitting he was the shooter, Hernandez claimed he “only shot three rounds into the dirt to scare the others,” investigators wrote in the charges.