Boone County man cited after bullet hits church

A Boone County man was charged Monday with aggravated assault after he fired a .45-caliber pistol into the exterior of a Pentecostal Tabernacle Church while people were inside.

No one was injured. Timothy David Swift, 33, was hiding in a ditch when deputies from the Boone County sheriff’s office arrested him Sept. 13 near the church northeast of Harrison, according to an affidavit from Capt. Bob King.

On or near Swift they found an empty Taurus pistol, shell casings, 23 bottles of Heineken beer, a partial container of Platte Valley FireShine Corn Whiskey, and a generic form of the prescription drug Xanax, according to the affidavit.

Swift told investigators he is a combat veteran who suffers from anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.

When interviewed by King on Sept. 14, Swift said he didn’t remember the shooting that took place the previous night.

Swift told King he had been drinking alcohol for four or five days and had used methamphetamine and marijuana, according to the affidavit.

Smith’s mother told investigators she received a panicked call from her son at about 7:11 p.m. Sept. 13. Swift told his mother he was “scared and was going to hide in the bushes because someone was after him,” according to the affidavit.

Swift’s wife told investigators she locked her husband out of the house just before the shooting because he was drunk and belligerent.

Swift told King he didn’t have a vendetta against the church. According to an online calendar, the church has adult Bible study on Wednesday nights in addition to other meetings.

Swift also was charged with misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance, Xanax. The prescription belonged to his wife, according to the charges filed by David Ethredge, prosecuting attorney for Arkansas’ 14th Judicial Circuit.

Swift was released from the Boone County jail on $25,000 bond. His next court date is Nov. 17.