By Patrick McCreless
The Cullman Times
CULLMAN — A Holly Pond man is behind bars on 10 counts of attempted murder after he allegedly fired four rounds from a pistol into a vehicle full of local teenagers Saturday.
Cullman County Sheriff’s deputies arrested John David Hamilton, 37, on the attempted murder charges as well as for firing into an occupied vehicle.
“He’s a menace to society,” Annette Munger, Hamilton’s ex-wife, said during the Holly Pond Town Council meeting Monday. “I want all the parents to know we never expected anything like this. I hope the district attorney does what he’s supposed to do and prosecutes him to the fullest extent of the law.”
Hamilton is incarcerated at the Cullman County Detention Center on a $260,000 bond.
“We are just extremely lucky that none of these kids were injured or killed in this incident,” said Cullman County Sheriff Tyler Roden. “This individual’s complete and total recklessness was just nonsense. At this point, he’s right where he needs to be.”
Roden said the shooting occurred at approximately 8:30 p.m. on County Road 1711 in Holly Pond, near Hamilton’s residence. A 9 mm pistol was used and has been recovered by investigators.
“Deputies found indications where there were four bullet entries into the vehicle,” Roden said.
He said the victims, all Holly Pond residents whose ages range between 15 and 18 years old, were traveling in a pickup truck from a birthday party when the shooting took place.
“Seven of the kids were in the bed of the truck and three were sitting up front,” Roden said. “They were pretty much minding their own business.”
Roden said Hamilton stated he shot at the truck because it looked and sounded like a truck that had damaged his yard a week ago.
“He called us last week when the first incident happened ... he says he saw this truck back into his yard,” Roden said. He claimed he was trying to mark the vehicle ... not that that justified it.”
Roden noted his deputies had no evidence that tied the victims to the damage of Hamilton’s yard.
Roden said deputies responded to the scene to talk with the victims soon after the shooting occurred.
“They made an arrest a short time later,” Roden said.
Munger said deputies came to her house Saturday night.
“We had some wonderful officers at our house ... they did a great job,” she said.
* Patrick McCreless can be reached by e-mail at patrickm@cullmantimes.com or by telephone at 734-2131 ext. 270.
