CASPER — A local man accused of attacking an occupied Suburban with a semi-automatic rifle last month has been elevated to the felony-level Natrona County District Court.
Jordan Lee Bernard, 32, had a preliminary hearing last week, where he was bound over for a Feb. 22 arraignment in district court on five felony charges for allegedly using an AK-47 or AKS rifle to shoot at an occupied vehicle in the 1500 block McKinley Street in the early morning hours of Dec. 4.
A charging affidavit filed in the case Bernard allegedly got out of a vehicle in an alley where a woman had driven in a Suburban expecting to get payment for a $100 loan she and her boyfriend had made to someone. Instead, she was met by Bernard and another man who got out of their vehicle.
Bernard was carrying a rifle with a “strap” and the other man a crowbar, according to her statements to police. She told Casper Police Department officers that Bernard and the other man “began hitting” her Suburban, Bernard with the rifle and the man with the crowbar.
“Bernard pointed the rifle at (the woman) as she sat in the driver’s seat,” the affidavit says. The woman then “began reversing out of the alley and heard several gunshots.”
The woman drove through several alleys to an alley adjacent to Albertsons grocery store on the city’s west side and called 911.
Bullet Holes And Other Damage
Police met the women near Albertsons and found that above the driver’s window was a hole consistent with a “larger caliber projectile” and about an inch away was another hole. Officers found three spent bullet casings and shards of red plastic consistent with the woman’s story that she was shot at and attacked with a crowbar, the affidavit says.
Casper police located the person who allegedly got the $100 loan from the woman and her boyfriend and interviewed him. He stated that the couple loaned him $100 for fuel for his vehicle and then started “blowing up” his phone to get the money back, according to the charging document.
Bernard showed up at a relative’s house and stated he “wanted to fight” the woman’s boyfriend. The man who received the loan got in a vehicle with Bernard and a third man, and drove to the alley to meet the couple. He told police that Bernard and the other man left the vehicle, and then he heard a gunshot and the woman’s Suburban backing out before leaving.
The man who got the loan said he stayed in the vehicle and “did not recall” seeing anyone with a gun or crowbar prior to the incident. He told police he had gone with them “under the assumption” that Bernard would fight or “talk things out” with the woman and her boyfriend, and that “if he had known that a gun would be involved would never have gone with them,” according to the affidavit.
He has not been charged.
Arrested On Christmas
Police later located and arrested Bernard on Dec. 25, and he remains in Natrona County jail on a $100,000 cash or surety bond.
Bernard is charged with one count of aggravated assault and battery, possession of a deadly weapon with unlawful intent, felon in possession of a firearm, reckless endangering, and property destruction and defacement.
The aggravated assault charge carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison, the possession of a deadly weapon with unlawful intent a penalty of up to five years in prison and a fine of $1,000 or both, and the property destruction and defacement charge up to 10 years in prison and a fine of not more than $10,000 or both.
The felon in possession charge is a misdemeanor that carries up to six months in jail, and the reckless endangering charge also is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
