Fargo, North Dakota



From the Fargo Forum of March 17, 2004:

Man shot at, arrested after North Fargo break-in



He may have been drowsy after getting roused from bed, but Chad Hinkley said he knew exactly what he was doing when he shot at an old friend Tuesday.



Hinkley said screams outside his home at 808 N. University Drive awakened him about 3:15 a.m., but he didn’t respond. He said he knew it was Trent Lehman, a former roommate who a few weeks ago began accusing Hinkley of dating an ex-girlfriend.



“I knew he wasn’t there to be nice to me,” Hinkley, 28, said.



So when Lehman, 30, crashed through his front door, Hinkley went for his 9 mm pistol. The two men met in the house, separated by an entryway between rooms.



Hinkley said he drew his gun and fired, missing intentionally by about three feet, when Lehman kept walking toward him.



“I wasn’t going to take any chances when he comes kicking my door in at three in the morning,” said Hinkley.



Lehman, who lives in Dwight, N.D., left after the shot, and both men called police.



After investigating the incident, police arrested Lehman, and Cass County prosecutors charged him with felony criminal trespassing and misdemeanor criminal trespass. A message left Tuesday morning at the Cass County Jail for Lehman went unreturned.



Sgt. Kevin Volrath said Hinkley might face a city ordinance violation for discharging a firearm in Fargo, but it didn’t appear he broke any laws.



“He was defending his own property,” Volrath said.