Woman Reports Being Shot at While on Horse

A woman riding her horse in a bamboo-filled creek bed said she was shot at Thursday afternoon by an unknown person, escaping injury when she galloped away.

“It felt like they took direct aim at my head, so I turned my horse around and galloped off, “ said Laura Richter, 34, who boards her horse at Rancho Sierra Vista Equestrian Center. “My head was reverberating afterward, and I had a terrible headache.”

Richter said she did not see anyone with a gun as she was riding in Trabuco Creek at 3:50 p.m., about a quarter-mile north of the stables. She described the creek bed as crowded with bamboo plants and tall bushes.

The Laguna Niguel resident has boarded her horse at the facility for a year, she said, and had never heard gunfire in the area. Stable employees could not be reached for comment Thursday evening.

“I used to work in a ghetto, so I know what gunfire sounds like,” Richter said. “It sounded like a shotgun.”

Sheriff’s Lt. Larry Abbott confirmed that Richter had filed a report of the incident.

“It might have been kids playing with a new gun they got for Christmas,” Richter speculated. “I’ve ridden down in that area many times, but I’m not going down there again.”