VANDALIA SHOOTING RANGE’S PERMIT REVOKED

Officer hid behind his cruiser on Sept. 7 call to the Shooting Grounds.

VANDALIA— The Miami Valley Shooting Grounds closed after Vandalia’s chief of police this week yanked the range’s firearms discharge permit.

Chief Douglas Knight’s decision to revoke the near decadeold permit came after a meeting earlier this month with the range’s owner, former Dayton police officer Dana Tackett, according to the letter.

The revocation comes amid, but is not directly related to, a lawsuit brought against the range by Vandalia resident Jamie Spencer, a neighbor of the range who alleges stray bullets are flying onto his property.

In his letter, the Vandalia police chief alleges Tackett, the range, and its representatives violated the permit or Vandalia’s ordinances by:

■ Discharging firearm(s) from a place other than the permit premises;

■ Failing to take all necessary measures and provide supervision sufficient to ensure that projectiles are confined to the property;

■ Firing weapons in a direction other than from east to west perpendicular to and using as backstop the 50-foot hill on the western edge of the permit premises;

■ Projectiles not being confined to the property.

Tackett has until Oct. 19 to file an appeal, according to the chief ’s letter. Tackett’s attorney said he intends to appeal.

The city of Vandalia declined to comment while the appeal process is open.

Spencer said he is pleased with the outcome.

“Bullets were exiting the range, and it was a serious public safety issue,” Spencer said. “And at the end of the day an outdoor shooting range has no business inside the city limits aimed toward a residential neighborhood.”

Last month, the Dayton Daily News and WHIO revealed a Vandalia police officer said he “retreated behind” his cruiser when responding Sept. 7 to a call about errant bullets from the shooting grounds.

The officer’s superior said it “was obvious ... that the shooters were a threat to public safety and not in com- pliance with the permit” the police chief issued in 2007, according to the officer’s report.

Spencer filed a lawsuit against the range and Tackett the next day.