A South Haven man was charged Friday after police said he used two semi-automatic guns to shoot nearly 60 times toward neighboring homes from inside his residence.
Errol Dodson, 54, was charged with two counts of criminal recklessness shooting a firearm into a building, a Level 5 felony, and one count of criminal recklessness committed with a deadly weapon, a Level 6 felony, according to court records.
Porter County Sheriff officers responded to the area of Lahonda Drive and Governor Road at 1:42 a.m. Thursday for multiple calls of gunshots, according to the police report.
Dispatch also reported hearing gunshots while on the phone with callers, police said.
Officers heard multiple shots being fired as they patrolled the area, according to the report, and found the home where the shots were coming from with a shot out the window.
Ultimately, six officers, including an Indiana State Police Trooper, held a perimeter around the home where the shots were coming from. The Porter County Emergency Response Team was also dispatched to the scene.
The home belongs to Dodson, police said, who has been known to call the department to report unknown people inside or trying to enter his house.
While officers surrounded the home, shots were fired from inside the home and toward four of the officers, police said.
One officer saw Dodson come to the front door with an unknown dark object in his left hand, police said. The officer shouted out for the man to exit the house with his hands in the air, police said.
Dodson went back inside the house, and then he walked out through the front door with his hands in the air, police said. He was placed into a police car and arrested, police said.
While Dodson was being transported to jail, he said “When you told me to walk backwards down the street I should’ve taken off and got it over with.” and “If I could take off and make you shoot me, I would,” police said, so he was placed in a padded cell.
At the scene, officers searched the home after obtaining a search warrant, and reported multiple bullet holes throughout the house. Investigators determined that Dodson discharged approximately 57 .223 and 5.56 AR-15 rounds from inside his residence toward neighbors. Police also found six rifle magazines with 67 unspent cartridges, three Glock magazines with 10 unspent 45-caliber cartridges, a Smith and Wesson M&P15 rifle with a 50-round drum magazine in the well inside a closet and a loaded AR-15 on a dining table.
Inside a bedroom, police reported a lot of damage with numerous spent bullet casings. The bedroom closet had a Glock 41 Gen4 45cal semi-automatic pistol with a jammed bullet inside, police said, and multiple spent cartridges inside.
akukulka@chicagotribune.com
