Boston man shot pedestrians with air rifle for 'target practice'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-38867531

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A man who used pedestrians as "target practice", prompting armed police to shut off part of a Lincolnshire town, has been jailed for 14 months.

Ruslanas Solovjovas was arrested after he shot five people with an air rifle in the Freiston Road area of Boston.

Lincoln Crown Court heard Solovjovas, 39, of Vauxhall Road, Boston, was drunk and told police he was Jesus Christ.

He admitted three charges of common assault and two charges of assault causing actual bodily harm.

Phil Howes, prosecuting, said a 28-year-old woman was shot in the leg and required hospital treatment.

'Psychological harm'

People heard shots "whizzing past their ears" on 13 November, Mr Howes said, with a man noticing blood on his back and a dent in his car.

Stuart Lody, mitigating, said Solovjovas had bought the weapon a few days earlier when his girlfriend left him after becoming fed up with his drinking.

Judge Michael Heath, passing sentence, told the Lithuanian national: "You chose to exercise target practice on five innocent members of the public who were going about their lawful business.

"You caused some physical and psychological harm."

He added: "You could have caused the loss of eyes and heaven knows what would have happened if you had hit somebody in the temple."