Bullet Hits House Near Police Gun Range

A bullet that ricocheted through the window of a home near the police shooting range caused no injuries but prompted Mayor David Sullivan to demand Wednesday that the range be closed until further investigation.

“I understand that children’s day care was provided in the home,” the mayor said. The incident Tuesday “could have resulted in a major tragedy. . . . I have requested that the city administrator shut down the range until a thorough investigation is completed in the interest of public safety.”

Richard Wright, president of the Huntington Beach Police Officers Assn., which operates the range at Huntington Central Park, said that shooting operations were suspended at the range Wednesday but that regular operations were set to resume today.

Wright said preliminary reports show that the bullet, from a .45-caliber handgun, “didn’t appear to come out of the range. Of the .45s [fired], none of them compared to that round.”

All the groups that used the range Tuesday were contacted, Wright said, and those who had fired .45-caliber weapons turned them over for ballistics testing.

Police Lt. Dan Johnson said that, of the eight weapons tested, four were ruled out. For the four others, he said, lab results were inconclusive.

Senior Officer Mike Kelly said police received a call Tuesday afternoon that a bullet had blasted through the rear glass door of a home on Ford Drive, less than a mile from the range.

City officials in the past have voiced concern about the safety of the range, which is off Gothard Street, south of Talbert Avenue.