WILLMAR -- Rene Rivera III, 17, of Willmar, pleaded guilty Monday to a felony charge of property damage, plus misdemeanor counts of fleeing a peace officer and underage consumption, for his role in shooting out house and vehicle windows with a BB-gun in May.
A felony charge for discharging a weapon in the city will be dismissed and he will be jointly responsible, with his co-defendant, for restitution. His dispositional hearing will be Aug. 7.
The juvenile charges were filed after May 24, when Willmar Police were called to Robbins Avenue Southwest on a report that someone had fired a gun and damaged a window. The suspects had fled, but the officer found two youths sitting on the curb along the 1200 block of Sixth Street Southwest.
One of the boys, Rivera, fled through backyards and threw a BB-gun and other items from his pockets as the officer chased him. He was caught and handcuffed. Officers located the BB-gun and noted that Rivera smelled of alcohol.
The other suspect, identified in Rivera's petition as AV, was located in the area of the Willow Run Apartments, 1400 Fifth Street Southwest. He had a BB-gun and a tube of BBs in his possession.
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Three girls had witnessed the boys shooting at houses and told officers they suspected the boys had been drinking because their speech was slurred. The girls also identified both boys by name.
The windows of one house and three cars had been damaged, along Robbins Avenue, and Sixth Street Southwest, with more than $1,000 in total damage. Officers found gun pellets in the vehicles and between the panes of the house window.
