A 20-year-old House Springs man was arrested after he reportedly fired a gun into the air outside Salty Mike’s Saloon, 4551 Gravois Road, in House Springs. The man allegedly admitted to firing shots outside the business and said he did so because other men were attacking him, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office reported.
The incident occurred Jan. 9, and afterward deputies got a call reporting an alleged fight and gunshots. When the deputies arrived, the men involved in the altercation had left, the report said.
However, two men, including the man suspected of firing the gun, returned to the bar, and the suspect said he had been there to confront a man who had been spreading rumors about him. The suspect also said the man he was arguing with started to attack him, according to the report.
The suspect said he had a gun in his vehicle and someone got it out of the vehicle and displayed it. After that, the suspect allegedly pulled a gun from his waistband and fired at least two shots in the air, the report said.
After the suspect reportedly fired the gun, everyone fled, and the suspect said he put the gun on a table outside the bar and left. No gun was found on the table, but one was turned into the North Zone Office in High Ridge, the Sheriff’s Office reported.
Grant Bissell, a Sheriff’s Office spokesman, said on Jan. 16 that investigators were still trying to determine whether the gun turned in at the office was the one that was fired or the one that someone else had gotten out of the suspect’s vehicle.
The suspect was arrested and taken to Jefferson County Jail, where he was booked and released pending application for warrants. The Sheriff’s Office will seek a charge against the man through the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for unlawful use of a weapon, Bissell said.