A whiskey and beer-fueled evening for an off-duty Casper police officer went downhill late Thursday night after a phone conversation with his estranged wife where he made alleged threats to kill himself.
Before the next 17 hours were over Michael S. Hughes, 30, would threaten to shoot Natrona County Sheriff’s Office deputies, fire a round through a Quail Run Apartments window at deputies and put two bullet holes through the ceiling and the floor of the apartment above him.
Hughes appeared by video for his initial appearance in Casper Circuit Court on Monday and spoke respectfully to Judge Nichole Collier, who read him his rights and the six felony charges and one misdemeanor he faces.
Hughes is charged with five counts of aggravated assault and battery stemming from threats to responding officers, property destruction worth more than $1,000, and a reckless endangering misdemeanor for shooting into the apartment above him.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Blaine Nelson said actions by the seven-year veteran of the Casper Police Department late Thursday and into Friday afternoon warranted a $1 million bond initially set at his arrest Friday afternoon.
Nelson said that during the 17-hour standoff at Quail Run Apartments, which according to an arrest affidavit started with a 10:21 p.m. call by his wife to 911 who had been Face Timing him on the phone, Hughes threatened to “shoot anyone who comes through that door.”
Divorce And Threats
Court documents show that Hughes’ wife had filed for divorce and his attorney was served with papers Aug. 16.
The arrest affidavit states Hughes’ wife informed him she was calling dispatch after he made comments about self-harm. Hughes allegedly responded he would “shoot a mother***er through the door.”
At the complex, deputies found Hughes’ girlfriend in the parking lot who told them he had been bringing guns into the kitchen and ordered her to leave. When she refused, she said Hughes pointed a handgun to the ceiling and fired off a round. She also told deputies he was threatening to shoot anyone who entered.
The girlfriend told deputies Hughes had been drinking Busch light beer and whiskey. She said he had been on the phone with his wife and her boyfriend and that is what sparked the incident.
Deputies contacted adjoining apartments to evacuate them for their own safety, the affidavit states. The woman in the apartment above Hughes told deputies there were bullet holes in the floor of her apartment.
The Natrona County Special Response Team was called and crisis negotiators attempted to contact Hughes in the early morning hours Friday. Hughes told them that he “was a cop” and he had six firearms. He also told them he intended to keep drinking.
The affidavit states Hughes made repeated threats to “to kill law enforcement officers and attempted to solicit officers to enter his apartment so he could kill them.”
Hughes allegedly told officers, “Bring it on,” and, “Come on in, let’s do this. You know how it’s going to end.”
Mood Swings
During the standoff, the affidavit states that Hughes went through mood swings and went from making suicidal “ideations and plans” to apologizing to his friends and colleagues for his conduct.
The affidavit states when the Special Response Team flew a drone through a broken window of the apartment that Hughes snatched it out of the air, bent the propellers and threw it back out the window.
On another occasion as the team attempted to open the curtains using rods and standing behind ballistic shields, Hughes “fired a shot with a pistol directly through the window the tactical team was positioned next to,” the affidavit says.
The standoff lasted from 11:30 p.m. Thursday until about 4:15 p.m. on Friday when Hughes handcuffed himself and told officers he would allow them to come inside and take him into custody.
During his arrest, he allegedly “screamed additional threats of killing law enforcement when he eventually got out of jail,” according to the affidavit.
A search of the apartment yielded three handguns, two 9 mm, and one 10 mm. Investigators found three spent shell casings, a handwritten will, two bullet holes in his ceiling and one in the window where he shot at Special Response Team members.
During his initial appearance in Casper Circuit Court on Monday, Hughe’s defense attorney Thomas Valdez said he understood the seriousness of the charges against his client but asked that bond be reduced, advocating that Hughes has ties to the community, that he and his wife have three children together, and measures could be taken to ensure no contact with victims.
He told Judge Collier that, “$250,000 cash or surety would still be a significant bond and would ask for that.”
The judge set bond at $500,000 cash and ordered no contact with his wife, no firearms, alcohol and drug testing, and no return to Quail Run Apartments.
Each aggravated assault and battery charge as well as the property destruction worth more than $1,000 charge carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and an up to $10,000 fine or both. The reckless endangering charge carries a potential punishment of up to one year in jail.
Hughes remains in the Natrona County jail.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
