Lowrance pleads not guilty to gun charges

A Havre man has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from claims he pointed a gun at another man during a fight that came out of an argument about a dog, and shot the gun to show it was loaded.

James R. Lowrance, born in 1990, pleaded not guilty in court in Havre to a felony charge of criminal endangerment and a misdemeanor count of discharging a firearm within city limits.

State District Judge Dan Boucher set a hearing July 23 in which trial dates generally are set.

According to charging documents, the incident started June 10 at about 8:25 p.m. when Lowrance called the Havre Police Department to say he was trying to leave a residence on the 600 block of 3rd Street but someone was not letting him leave.

The police then received a second call from someone who reported he heard someone at that location say “quit waving that gun in my face.”

Officers responded and saw Lowrance walking into the alley, with a pistol in a black holster on his leg.

As the officers began speaking to Lowrance and other witnesses, one of the witnesses said Lowrance had shot the pistol in the the witness’ yard.

Dispatch also advised the officers at that time that the dispatch officers had received a report of a firearm being shot at that location.

A witness told officers that a female resident in the area saw another resident hitting his dog. The woman told the man to quit hitting his dog, and the man cursed at her.

The witness told the man with the dog to apologize to the woman, but while that man was apologizing Lowrance, who was also there, made some profane comment toward her and another woman.

The witness said he confronted Lowrance verbally, and Lowrance unholstered his pistol and pointed toward the man, saying he was going to shoot him.

The man with the dog pulled down Lowrance’s arm, the charging documents said, and told him to leave, escorting him out of the residence.

After Lowrance made some more profane comments toward the women, the witness said he followed him out of the residence.

When Lowrance again pulled the pistol, the witness made a comment about it not being a real gun or not being loaded, he said, at which point Lowrance fired a round.

The witness said Lowrance did this in a residential neighborhood with several people and homes nearby. He added he did not do anything to interfere with Lowrance leaving.

Lowrance told officers, who found a shell casing on the ground behind Lowrance’s vehicle at the scene, that he was defending himself.