The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

December 8, 2009

Teen charged in Lake Crystal day care shooting

By Dan Nienaber

LAKE CRYSTAL — A teen told police he called to report gunfire in his neighborhood because he was concerned the bullets, which he is now accused of firing, had injured someone.

Zachary Thomas Morrow, 17, also told police he was targeting squirrels in his back yard when he allegedly shot at least three bullets into two Lake Crystal homes, including a day care with 10 young children inside. Morrow is facing felony-level charges of reckless discharge of a firearm and criminal damage to property in juvenile court.

The first report of shots being fired was received at 3:25 p.m. Dec. 2 when a woman operating the day care on Main Street called to report somebody had shot a bullet into her living room. She reported she had heard the gunshot about 20 minutes earlier while she and the children, ranging in age from 5 months to 6 years old, were in the kitchen having a snack. She said she called police after seeing a hole in the living room window and glass on the floor.

While the Lake Crystal police officer was taking that report, dispatchers received a call from Morrow. He reported he had also heard shots fired near his house in the 300 block of North Lincoln Street, which is about a block away from the day care.

Morrow initially told the officer he was cleaning his room and listening to music when he heard three or four shots fired. When he went out to investigate, he said he could see bullet holes in a house in the 100 block of Howard Street, which is also nearby.

The officer went to that house and found two bullet holes in a bedroom window. The couple living at the house, who were home at the time, said they had also heard gunshots but didn’t realize their bedroom window had been hit.

The officer also reported finding a second-story window in Morrow’s house that had a clear view of both houses that had been hit. The trajectory of the bullets that had gone into both houses also suggested they had been shot from an elevated position, the officer reported.

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