Misses From 25 Yards, With a .270 Rifle, They Said

Anthony Gene Moore, 36, Kinston (NC) faces just one count of "firing into an occupied vehicle," after he admitted shooting at the AT 301 of Farmville man Don Wayne Slaughter, 53. He is free on $100,000 bond.

Slaughter, uninjured in the attack, was "about 75 feet," up, he said, when he realized he was being shot at. He spotted the shooter, and high-tailed it out of there, noting the rifleman's position, and mentally noting a brief description of the assailant. The crippled Air Tractor made it to Global Transpark near Kinston with two holes in its port wing and one in its battery, which exploded.

From the airport, Mr Slaughter, who runs Wa-Lu Aviation at nearby Flanagan Field (N08) and has been flying low over crops since 1976, contacted the sheriff with his information; Moore was apprehended shortly afterward, with a Browning .270 rifle (not shown) and several shell casings at his house. Local reports say that investigators suspected Moore may have been drinking. Under questioning, Moore is reported to have said he was "annoyed" with the low-flying ag plane.

FMI: www.faa.gov