Firing in threating manner?

Harris County, Ga.

Today my 5 Dec, my wife was heading to Christmas parade and had to have the Farrier trim the horses before the parade. The Farrier and my wife caught the horses and lined them by the round pen beside the barn. The barn is less than 100 feet from my neighbor house. The Farrier started to trim the horses and two shots came from the neighbor’s house. The horse that the Farrier was working on reared up and became uncontrollable. My wife ran around the barn to see what was happening and my neighbor was firing into the air. He was firing knowingly within less than 100ft from my family and livestock. My wife yelled to Farrier, “I am going to call the police and ran to the house to get her phone”. The Farrier attempted to continue when she came back with the phone and a report that the police are on the way that’s when the neighbor shot two more shots again. This time she and the Farrier could see the neighbor standing on his porch with the gun slung over his shoulder he was pointing at her and the Farrier laughing. The neighbor knowingly he could have caused serious damage/injury from the horses being spooked and trampling someone. The gun shots and the neighbor pointing the finger at them was a clear threat to both the Farrier and my wife. The Farrier said I got that number! Relating he understood the gesture and what it meant to us. Then the neighbor went into the house. The sheriff deputy dispatched to my home, but failed to tell the neighbor to stop or even visit him. The Farrier had to leave. After he left my wife asked my son the oldest to get the horses to the trailer over by the house. The oldest started leading the horses over to the trailer near the house. Then my other son (13yy old) came running yelling, “the neighbor is firing again and the horse are going nuts”. This time my 14yr old son could have been trampled. My wife was beside her self and asked the kids to stay away from the barn and not to go back there again. Now this is a clear sign of harassment that the neighbor is trying to get someone hurt and completely disregarded the law. The sheriff deputy was called again and requested by my wife to stay until the horse were loaded for the parade, but once again the deputy did not talk to the neighbor. She now feels scared for her life and children, and her animals.
Dec 7, I called the Investigator from the Sheriff’s office about 0730 EST from a Satellite phone in Iraq. He read the report said her would look in it. He agreed that the situation required his attention and he would visit the neighbor personally. I asked the Investigator how could this neighbor shoot his weapon on his small 2-3 acre lot and keep the projectile within his property? I informed him that if firing from his porch the trajectory from any weapon had to cross my property on the west and south side or the paved road on the east side? There is not a porch on the north side. Which side of the house did he fire from?

Sounds like you've got a great neighbor.

It sounds like you could pursue a civil action for assault. Assault is "An act intended to cause an apprehension of harmful or offensive contact.". If he fired the gun with the intent of spooking the animals and placing you in fear of being trampled, that would qualify as assault.

If he did not intend to cause any harm, his actions could be considered negligent, however to pursue a civil action for negligence, damages must be shown. You can't claim damages for what could have happened.

A third theory is intentional infliction of emotional distress. The key to this one is that the emotional distress must be severe, requiring treatment. You also have to prove causation between the action and the emotional distress.

I don't know what elements are required for criminal assault, but your wife should certainly consider filing a formal complaint, rather than simply calling law enforcement.

It may be more than "simple assault" under Georgia code..... the use of a deadly weapon in the commission of an assault in Georgia elevates it to "aggravated assault", even if he didn't fire the weapon directly at you.....it is still a device that "when used offensively against a person, is likely to or actually does result in serious bodily injury" (O.C.G.A 16-5-21)

Georgia doesn't distinguish on whether or not a firearm was actually used offensively against you during the assault, only that assault took place and the weapon was an element of the threat. For example, pointing an unloaded weapon is still aggravated assault in Georgia because if it was fired at you, it could have killed or injured you.

I can't believe there are this many crazy people in America who own real estate! Good grief.

Update

Ok, They have arrested my neighbor. There was a 2000 bond and he was fined $250 for violating a "Good Neighbor order", the charge was "reckless conduct". We are also going to fill a "restraining order" and there is additonal requirement he did not comply with with the "Good Neighbor Order", but we will have to go to court for them. We are hiring a lawyer, because the Judge here is weak in the local court (weak meaning soft or good old boy system). I guess I can say that, because that is opinion. If the judge had solved the earlier issues with this guy I think he would thought different.

I have another Post about this same guys removing my property corner also. Same guy, same corner , same shooting, same shelter built too close the proeprty line, Oh did I say same Judge? and same guy that does not respect the law? I will kee you updated. The "reckless conduct" charge will go to court in the spring. So much for timely do process. I know this is not over by a long shot. Thanks for the input.