A 28-year-old Mills man faces three felony charges in Casper Circuit Court after allegedly pointing a “monster” black powder pistol at a man and woman and threatening to kill the man.
Witnesses state that when he lowered the pistol and started walking to his house the weapon discharged, missing his foot and hitting the ground.
Shade Allen Meacham is charged with two counts of aggravated assault and battery, as well as taking a controlled substance or liquor into a correctional facility, all felonies. He's also charged with possession of a controlled substance.
Both aggravated assault charges filed Monday against Meacham carry a potential penalty of 10 years in prison. Taking a controlled substance into a correctional facility is punishable by up to three years in prison and a $3,000 fine.
No motive for Meacham’s alleged actions was noted in an affidavit. His bond was set at $100,000 cash or surety.
Court records show Mills Police were called to a residence at about 5:30 p.m. Friday for a report of a man who “pulled a gun at someone outside” and another reporting a man waving a handgun, shouting, and firing into the ground.
Officers responded to the 100 block of 4th Avenue and were informed by a city employee that he saw a silver truck leaving the location. A neighbor at the scene told an officer he witnessed Meacham with a “monster of a handgun”, waving it around and “screaming get the (expletive) out of my truck.”
The neighbor described the weapon as having a long barrel and being “massive.”
A man and woman at the scene told police that had been sitting in Meacham’s truck when he came out of the residence wielding the weapon.
The man told the officers that he initially told the female “no, he’s not going to shoot me” and then Meacham allegedly walked around the truck and pointed the gun at them both and threatened the man.
Scary Experience
“It was just something that scared the (expletive) out of me,” he told the officer. The affidavit states he asked Meacham if, “You really drove me all the way here to shoot me?”
“Shade Meacham replied, ‘(Expletive) yeah dude,’” the affidavit states.
The woman told police she was pregnant and when she saw Meacham come out of the house and point the gun into the truck, she ran from the vehicle. She said she had met Meacham maybe two or three times previously.
“He’s not all there in the head. I probably should never have got into that truck,” she said. “I’m pregnant … it’s not just my life at risk, and I’m scared.”
The woman showed police video she took of the incident.
The first video shows Meacham holding a “long barrel firearm” in his right hand and standing at the side of his silver pickup truck pointing the firearm toward the cab of the truck. A man grabs his belongings, gets out of the truck and Meacham continues to point the firearm at his head.
The affidavit states a second video shows Meacham pointing the pistol at the man telling him, "I will (expletive) shoot you.”
“You gonna keep aiming on me?” the man asked Meacham. The video then pans to show Meacham with a firearm in his right hand pointing it directly at the man’s head, the affidavit states.
Pistol Discharges
The affidavit states both the neighbor and the man threatened by Meacham said the pistol fired a round when he put the weapon down and started to walk to his home.
The neighbor told police Meacham “jumped” when the weapon went off.
The man threatened by Meacham also told officers that he did not think he meant to shoot the gun when it went off, but he did feel threatened when the weapon was pointed at him and he was looking down the barrel.
“He was gonna shoot me,” the man told police.
Family members interviewed by police said Meacham shoved something behind a grandfather clock before leaving the residence. A Mills officer recovered a black powder “older style” revolver with a long barrel, and one firing cap was missing from the cylinder, the affidavit states.
The affidavit also says the Mills officer located a spot in the roadway in front of the home that showed “some type of impact, similar to a firearm being shot into the pavement.”
Just after 10 p.m. Saturday, a Natrona County Sheriff’s deputy spotted Meacham’s vehicle at a convenience store in the 4000 block of West Yellowstone Highway. A Mills officer responded to the location and arrested Meacham, who told officers he would not speak “without my attorney present.”
The affidavit states that once at the Natrona County Detention Center, Meacham was put on a chair, and he told deputies he had something inside his shoe.
“They didn’t pat me down before I got in the squad car,” he told deputies. “”If they asked, I would have gave it to them.”
The officers recovered a substance taken to the Mills Police Department that tested “presumptive positive” for methamphetamine, the affidavit states.
The possession of a controlled substance charge is punishable by up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
