CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — A 61-year-old Chillicothe woman is facing felony charges after police say she brandished and fired a handgun during a family dispute on Dayton Street Sunday evening, then fled the scene before hiding the weapon when officers arrived at her home.
Officers were dispatched to 962 Dayton Street shortly before 9:30 p.m. on May 17 after a disorderly complaint escalated into a shots fired report. They arrived to find numerous adults and juveniles in the front yard, visibly upset and arguing.
According to police, the disturbance stemmed from an earlier dispute in which Victoria Stafford had become angry over concerns that a man had looked at a female juvenile in an inappropriate manner. Stafford allegedly made threats before leaving. She later returned, this time accusing family members of hacking into her home security system through her phone, which led to a physical altercation on the front porch.
Witnesses told officers that during the confrontation, Stafford pulled out a handgun and fired it. One witness said the gun was fired next to her head. Another said Stafford fired it, pointing upward from the porch. Officers located and photographed a single bullet hole in the porch ceiling approximately two feet from the front door.
Stafford had already left the scene in a red pickup truck by the time police arrived. Officers identified her address and located her at her home on East Water Street, where she was found on the front porch. She told officers she had gone to Dayton Street to confront a woman over a stolen cell phone and denied any gun was involved.
After officers at the Dayton Street scene confirmed Stafford had been seen firing a weapon — described as a revolver — she was detained and read her Miranda rights. Stafford then gave officers permission to search her home and consented to officers opening a storage compartment in a couch near the front door, where a black Taurus revolver was found concealed inside.
When asked if she had hidden the gun after seeing police arrive, Stafford said she had. She told officers she fired one round in the air to defend herself from being assaulted and confirmed the revolver was the gun she had used. The cylinder contained one spent .38 caliber casing and three live rounds, with one chamber empty.
Stafford was charged with improperly discharging a firearm at or into a habitation and transported to the Ross County Jail. A subsequent records review revealed Stafford has a prior 2006 felony conviction for trafficking in cocaine in Ross County, resulting in an additional charge of having weapons under disability.
She was scheduled to appear in Chillicothe Municipal Court today.