Police: Call of loud boom leads officers to small cannon, smoking shotgun shell and broken window

A call of a possible domestic violence situation and a loud explosion brought officers to an address on Wooster Place in Oxford at 4:32 a.m. March 10. The officer was familiar with the residence, having previously issued a warning about use of the cannon capable of firing shotgun shells, according to a police report.

A resident answered the door for officers and denied any problems. He allowed them to search the garage where the cannon is usually kept, but it was not there.

He then allowed them to search the house to check on the well-being of all inhabitants. He said his roommate, Adam Dangelo was asleep upstairs with his girlfriend.

MORE POPULAR STORIES

Police: Ex-student threatens to fly plane into Badin High School

As officers went upstairs, they smelled burnt powder in the area and then saw a discharged 10-gauge shotgun shell still smoking, earplugs and a large window pane shattered.

The officers could hear Dangelo talking in the room, but he did not respond to knocks on the door until finally opening it, telling them he and his girlfriend had been asleep. He was holding his phone and used it to call his father, ignoring requests for identification. The officer’s statement said Dangelo began moving toward a walk-in closet and was stopped from doing so due to safety concerns.

He was escorted out of the bedroom and taken downstairs. The girlfriend was awakened and went downstairs, where Dangelo was handcuffed and agitated and uncooperative. She tried to calm him down.

The officer spoke briefly with Dangelo’s father and Dangelo, 23 and a Miami student, soon admitted the cannon had been discharged and agreed to tell where it was. He agreed to allow the officer and the girlfriend to retrieve it from the closet in his room, which they did, along with several rounds of ammunition.

Dangelo denied setting it off but did not say who did. He was cited with discharge of a firearm on or near prohibited premises and released.

About the Author