Excessive Force Much? Tennessee Man Shoots 15-Year-Old Who Was TP-ing Neighbor’s House

Franklin County, TN – A 65-year-old man is facing multiple charges after using a shotgun to shoot a 15-year-old boy he spotted TP-ing a neighbors home.

Dale Bryant Farris is free on a $125,000 bond after shooting at several teens who were spreading toilet paper around the lawn of Huntland School Principal Ken Bishop on October 20.

“Some kids got out at a residence over there to roll it with toilet paper and this gentleman came out of his residence a couple of houses over and shot one of the teenagers who was rolling this other guy’s yard,” Franklin County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. Chris Guess explained to the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Farris fired at least two shots. Pellets struck one of the teens in the right foot, the inner left knee, the right palm, the right thigh, and the right side of his torso above his waistline.

“He got peppered pretty good,” Guess said of the injured teen. “The problem is they were not on his [Farris’] property and they were not doing anything to his property.”

Additionally, Principal Bishop isn’t even interested in filing charges against the teens, at least some of whom do attend his school.

The teenager is currently recovering, and Farris faces a charge of aggravated assault and another of reckless endangerment. He doesn’t have any prior violent incidents nor any previous encounters with any of the teenagers involved.

“It was just a random thing,” Guess said.

Still, with Halloween this week, the incident has the authorities on alert.

“We want everybody to have a good time, but we want everybody to be safe,” Guess said. He added that if residents believe their property is being vandalized: “They need to get on the phone and call law enforcement.”

Guess also tells teenage trick-or-treaters: “Don’t do anything that would cause anybody distress or make them think you might do them harm.”

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