2 men arrested during bird hunt in downtown Charleston
Two men, one of whom was armed with a BB gun, were arrested Tuesday afternoon after their hunt for birds caused a stir in downtown Charleston, according to a police report.
Phillip Joseph Popoff, 21, of St. Philip Street faces a charge of discharging a spring gun. Bryan Allen Matzke, 47, of Meeting Street was arrested on a trespassing charge.
Officers from the Charleston Police Department responded around 5:45 p.m. after several 911 callers reported seeing someone firing a rifle toward the Spring Street overpass at Lockwood Drive.
An officer saw Popoff firing toward the Spring Street overpass as Matzke pointed to where Popoff was shooting, according to the incident report.
Both were taken into custody at gunpoint.
Popoff told officers that they were “shooting birds at the overpass,” the report stated. He had bought the Daisy BB gun from a downtown pawn shop earlier in the day.
Reach Andrew Knapp at 937-5414 or twitter.com/offlede.
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