Steve Anderson woke up Tuesday, Aug. 7 to find his kitchen
cluttered with sheetrock, a few telltale bullets lying spent on the
floor. Outside, the aluminum siding
”
looked like Swiss cheese,
”
he said. More than a dozen bullets lay scattered inside and
outside his home, fired while Anderson was asleep.
Gilroy – Steve Anderson woke up Tuesday, Aug. 7 to find his kitchen cluttered with sheetrock, a few telltale bullets lying spent on the floor. Outside, the aluminum siding “looked like Swiss cheese,” he said. More than a dozen bullets lay scattered inside and outside his home, fired while Anderson was asleep.
“I woke up, but I thought the dog was scratching up against the house,” he said.
Alarmed, Anderson telephoned the Sheriff’s Office. The deputy who arrived at his Kern Avenue home scanned the bullet-riddled front door, the crumbled sheetrock and spent 22-caliber casings, asked him if he had any enemies, and then left without making a report.
Saturday, Anderson called the office again, asking someone to make a report for insurance purposes. Two deputies stopped by, called it a drive-by, and left, again not making a report.
It wasn’t until Anderson called the Dispatch, upset by deputies’ inaction, that supervisors became aware of the incident, and a report was finally taken, documenting the case.
“We dropped the ball,” said Lt. Dale Unger, who learned of the gunshots Wednesday. “I went out personally [Wednesday] night to see the damage.”
As for the deputies who didn’t report the incident, he said, “it’s to be dealt with internally.”
The incident puzzled investigators, who interviewed neighbors on Anderson’s 9800 block of Kern Avenue. Unger said no one has made threats against Anderson. But now that the gunshots are being investigated, Anderson said he finally feels at ease.
“After the third try,” he joked, “I’m quite pleased.”
