Story Archive

Fowl Pursuit

Derrill Rockwell says a bird had been “harassing” his cats, so when he saw it poke up above a bush outside his Grand Junction, Colo., house, he grabbed his .22 rifle, took careful aim (it was 90 feet away), and fired. The bird didn’t fly off, but he did hear a woman moaning. The “bird” was a hawk — a woman’s mohawk, more specifically, and he had shot her in the head. Luckily, the bullet just grazed her, but she may not have even felt it: police say she is a transient, and was nearly passed out from drugs. Rockwell’s attorney, Stephan Schweissing, said that if his client hadn’t told police what happened, he likely wouldn’t have been charged with a crime. But “he just couldn’t live with himself, knowing what he knew.” Rockwell, 49, pleaded guilty to possession of a weapon by a prior offender and was sentenced to 5 years of probation plus $10,000 in restitution. (RC/Grand Junction Daily Sentinel) ...So there really was something foul here: the attorney.