A 56-year-old man charged with attempted murder in the shooting of a 12-year-old Glenmary boy Monday night was described by a neighbor as "low key."
"I'm shocked," said Ida Buffat, who lives on Hall Farm Drive just down the street from Michael Bishop, who was arrested and charged with shooting the boy.
Police said the boy had been playing a game with other children in which they would run up to a home, ring the doorbell or knock, and then run away.
The boy, whose name is not being released because of his age, suffered a possible buckshot injury from a shotgun, said Dwight Mitchell, a Louisville Metro Police spokesman. He said police are still investigating what kind of ammunition was used.
Buffat said she had an enjoyable conversation with Bishop, of the 8000 block of Hall Farm Drive, just last week about their ties to Marion County. She said he gave her the impression that he was a "country" guy.
"You don't do that kind of stuff in the country," she said about firing a shotgun at a group of kids who may have been playing pranks.
The boy was taken to Kosair Children's Hospital with injuries that did not appear to be life-threatening.
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The shooting happened in the 7700 block of Kendrick Crossing Lane, which is adjacent to Bishop's home.
Mitchell said it was unclear if the 12-year-old was the intended target or if Bishop was merely trying to scare the children away.
Children apparently played the same prank in the area the previous night, Mitchell said
Unfortunately "we have individuals in the world who don't look at things as child's play," he said.
John Dippold, who lives nearby on Colonel Hancock Drive, said children do pull pranks in the neighborhood.
"I have had the door rang in the past," he said, but he doesn't see it as a major problem. "I don't think it's an epidemic."
Doug Dorsey, who lives in the 7700 block of Kendrick Crossing Lane, said his 13-year-old son, who grew up with the 12-year-old boy, has rung the doorbell or knocked on his door in the past and then run away.
He called it "kids being kids" and was still trying to understand why anyone would shoot.
"Nobody ever thinks something like this is going to happen," said Dorsey, who coached the 12-year-old in baseball a few years ago.
Dorsey said he was outside his home Monday night when he heard a shot and then screaming, and noticed a group of kids scurrying across the street.
He went to help and saw the boy hunched over, with his back covered in blood.
Dorsey said the kids are not troublemakers.
"They're all really good kids."
this wouldn't happen if the parents kept control of their children...why are they out at 10 p.m. anyway? they should be in bed or at least in the house. i'm not saying that that psycho was justified...i'm glad he's in jail...obviously he has mental problems...but the children should not have been doing that in the first place.