March 28, 2017
By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –
An Elk City man is in the Beckham County Detention Center after allegedly firing a pistol into the ground near his wife and kids during an argument.
41-year-old David Ernesto Rodriguez is in the county jail following his arrest last week and is awaiting his next court date.
According to an Elk City Police report, officers were called to a residence in the 800 block of South Elk Avenue in Elk City in reference to a father taking his children from and pointing a firearm at his wife.
When police arrived, the suspect had left the scene, however, the victim – who was separated from Rodriguez – and a witness explained to police that while outside the residence, Rodriguez began arguing over the youngest child of three.
The officer was told that the youngest didn’t want to go with his father. Rodriguez reportedly said that he would take the kids no matter what and after placing two children in his 2003 Ford pickup, he retrieved a magazine loaded pistol from the truck’s center console. He allegedly racked the slide chambering a round, pointed the pistol at the mother of the children in her mid-section and then pointed the firearm at the ground near her feet and fired a single shot.
He then, reportedly, got into his vehicle and sped away.
The victim gave police a copy of a text that Rodriguez sent to her showing Rodriguez holding a small silver handgun.
Police later retrieved a .38 caliber auto casing in the roadway where the altercation took place.
Rodriguez was later found and arrested along with a .38 caliber handgun which was located in a small metal safe. The police report says the gun was chamber and magazine loaded with five rounds when recovered. A second magazine containing three rounds of the same ammunition was located along with a box of ammunition.
During a later interview at the police department, Rodriguez allegedly admitted to investigators that he had gotten into an argument with the victim over the smallest child going with him. He also admitted that he had a gun with him, but that he didn’t point the gun at his wife.
He told police that he lost his temper and took the gun from his vehicle telling his wife, “Look how far you made me go,” and then fired a shot into the ground.
He told police that when he fired the shot, the children were both in the truck and that the female victim was about five to eight feet away from him.
He’s in jail on a $100-thousand dollar bond after having been charged with two counts of feloniously pointing a fire arm.
– 30 –