BURLINGTON, Ky. — A 56-year-old man is facing several charges after he fired a gun toward a woman and fled from police Wednesday in Burlington, the Boone County Sheriff's Office said.
The sheriff's office said deputies responded to the 8400 block of Locust Grove Road shortly after 1 a.m. Wednesday for a report of shots fired.
When they arrived, they met with a woman who was visiting friends at the residence. The woman told deputies that Richard Zornes arrived at the residence with a shotgun and confronted her at the back door of the home, causing an argument.
The sheriff's office said the woman, who had been in an on-and-off again relationship with Zornes, said she attempted to walk away from Zornes, who threatened to kill her and fired a gunshot, nearly striking the woman's head. Another person at the residence who was sitting in the living room told deputies they were almost hit by the gunshot, too, the sheriff's office said.
Other witnesses in the residence cooperated with the sheriff's office's investigation and no one was injured at the home.
The sheriff's office said Zornes fled the area, and deputies found his vehicle at his residence on Rabbit Hash Hill Road, but Zornes was not located near the vehicle. They also observed no signs that he was inside his home.
Deputies continued to search for Zornes throughout the morning as an arrest warrant was obtained. Shortly after 10:30 a.m., a deputy operating a drone located a person in the woods near a tent close to Zornes' residence. Zornes then ran through the woods toward his home, where deputies intercepted him and arrested him.
Zornes has been charged with one count of wanton endangerment in the first degree, one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, one count of terroristic threatening in the third degree and one count of attempted murder (domestic violence), the sheriff's office said.
He is being held at the Boone County Jail on a $1 million bond.
