Lowrance shooting trial enters second day

The trial of a Havre man accused of shooting a pistol in a residential Havre neighborhood, after entering an argument about a dog, started its second day this morning.

James R. Lowrance, born in 1990, is on trial from a felony charge of criminal endangerment and a misdemeanor count of discharging a firearm within city limits. This charge stems from an accusation he fired a pistol June 10, while on the 600 Block of 3rd Street, to prove it was a real, loaded gun.

Lowrance has said he felt threatened during the incident, telling the Havre Daily News he acted in self defense.

The trial opened Tuesday with jury selection, opening arguments, and examination and cross-examination of witnesses for the prosecution.

The accusations allege that 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 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.

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.

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

Witnesses told officers that a woman who lives in the neighborhood saw another resident hitting his own dog. Lowrance was present at the scene. The woman told the man to quit hitting the dog, and the man cursed at her.

A man told officers that, while in a residence, he told the man with the dog to apologize to the woman. While that man was apologizing Lowrance made some profane comment toward her and another woman.

The man said he confronted Lowrance verbally, and Lowrance unholstered his pistol and pointed it 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 woman, the man who demanded the apology followed Lowrance out of the residence, the man said.

When Lowrance again pulled the pistol, the man made a comment about it not being a real gun or not being loaded, the man 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.