Cops: Hallucinating man arrested after shooting gas meter
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SALEM, Oregon (KPTV) — Salem Police Department responded Tuesday to a call of a man firing his gun inside a backyard on Capitol Street Northeast, hitting the house’s natural gas meter.
“There was nobody out here I could see he was shooting at,” Gary Hunter said.
Gary Hunter says it was his mother’s backyard.
“I was just here visiting with her,” Hunter said. “I heard the two gunshots, and I came to look out back, and that’s when I seen him running up here.”
Hunter says the man came into their home and was acting hysterically.
“He was like ‘save me! Save me! They’re trying to shoot me! And I’m like, ‘you need to get out of here, you need to get out of the house now,” he said.
When officers got to the scene, SPD said they noticed the smell of gas and needed assistance from the Salem Fire Department, which shut off the gas at the house.
Later, police say they determined the suspect, 27-year-old Martin Abrego, was under the influence of drugs when he began hallucinating.
They say Abrego believed he was being attacked and trying to shoot at his hallucinations instead— one of his bullets hit the home’s natural gas meter.
“They replaced the meter, they put a new meter on yesterday, and everything’s fine now,” he said.
Hunter says he’s just glad he was home with his mom when this happened.
“Things could have been really bad, you know because the guy was hysteric,” he said.
Police say Abrego is facing unlawful use of a weapon and reckless endangering charges.
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