Daniel Summerhill of UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling is set to appear in court after firing shots during a training ride in February.
The 28-year-old American rider was riding through a residential area in Jefferson County when he fired a handgun multiple times at a hillside.
According to the Denver Post, Summerhill said he was having a rough day and needed to vent. Three rounds were found 50 yards apart after police responded to reports of shots fired.
The newspaper quoted local resident Joe Porter on the matter. According to a police report, Porter said that he “had been able to see a handgun in one of the pouches on the back of the male’s jersey … The male initially denied shooting, but then admitted that he had a bad day and need to vent, so he decided to shoot.”
Porter’s wife, Shawn Porter, who was on the road checking her mail box when shots were fired, told the deputy that she returned from work at 3:20 p.m. and heard three “loud pops.”
She saw a cyclist riding down South Deer Creek. He fired two more rounds into a hillside as he rode, she said.
“The area that she indicated that he had shot at was a hillside between two driveways, with a freestanding garage and a vehicle parked in front of it … there were residences on both sides of the road there as well as one above the hillside where the male had shot.”
A sheriff’s deputy subsequently met with the cyclist, and wrote in the report: “He confirmed that he had been riding his bicycle in Deer Creek Canyon on a five-hour training ride and had needed to vent before he got back to his vehicle.
“He told me that he had no idea that the area was residential and that it was not OK for him to shoot at the hillside there.”
