Man accused of illegally hunting deer hurts 2 when he shoots car instead, NY cops say

A man accused of illegally hunting a deer injured two people when he opened fire across a highway and shot a car instead, deputies in New York said.

Rolland Gibbs, 62, was arrested after deputies were notified of a car hit by gunfire along NYS Route 29 in the town of Saratoga, roughly 38 miles north of the capital, Albany, on the morning of Nov. 7, according to a news release.

“You know, you’re out, you’re in a hunting season, you’re at 11 o’clock in the morning or thereabouts, you see a deer across from a two-lane highway, that you know is heavily traveled with motorists, and you fire a shot, so common sense should’ve played into this, but apparently it didn’t,” Saratoga County Sheriff Michael Zurlo told WNYT.

Gibbs, of Northumberland, was illegally hunting deer at the time of the shooting, Capt. Daniel Morley, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, told McClatchy News in an email.

As a result, the car’s two occupants, whose names were not released, received “non-life-threatening injuries.”

They were transported to the town’s hospital and later released.

Gibbs is facing charges of first-degree reckless endangerment and third-degree assault.

Additionally, he was “cited for numerous Environmental Conservation Law violations,” the release said.

He is set to appear in Saratoga Town Court on Nov. 16, Morley said.

This story was originally published November 8, 2021 at 5:33 PM.

Julia Marnin

McClatchy DC

Julia Marnin covers courts for McClatchy News, writing about criminal and civil affairs, including cases involving policing, corrections, civil liberties, fraud, and abuses of power. As a reporter on McClatchy’s National Real-Time Team, she’s also covered the COVID-19 pandemic and a variety of other topics since joining in 2021, following a fellowship with Newsweek. Born in Biloxi, Mississippi, she was raised in South Jersey and is now based in New York State.