A Riverside, Mo. woman remains in custody at the Platte County Detention Center, charged with a felony weapon violation after she allegedly pointed a gun at her neighbor when he confronted her about her barking dog. According to court documents, the suspect and victim live across from each other in an apartment complex on NW Cliffview Drive. The victim allegedly knocked on the door of Olivia Shoemake’s residence to complain about a dog that had been “barking all of the time” for a period of about two weeks.
According to the victim, his girlfriend called animal control on the dog during the morning of Friday, Jan. 29. He came home from work that afternoon and knocked at Shoemake’s door.
When no one answered, the victim walked back across the deck to put some items in his apartment when he heard a click. He turned around and claims that Shoemake had a cocked pistol pointed at him from her apartment.
According to court documents, he closed the door and called police, afraid Shoemake would shoot him. His girlfriend also claimed to have seen the gun pointed in their direction.
When members of the Riverside Police Department arrived on scene, Shoemake allowed them into her apartment. She claimed that the victim knocked on her door violently, so she opened the door with the gun displayed, pointed down by her leg.
Shoemake denied pointing the gun in his direction.
The police recovered a gun, which was cocked with no bullet in the chamber but with six .22 caliber bullets inside. The serial number had been tampered with, but Shoemake’s husband provided a hand written receipt for the gun’s purchase, claiming the number had already been damaged before he purchased it.
A witness said he saw the victim knock on the Shoemakes’ door and said he wasn’t yelling or cursing.
When the witness turned back around, he said a gun was pointed in the victim’s direction. The witness did say that the victim came back out of his apartment and called Shoemake a vulgar name.
The victim also told authorities that occupants of the two apartments used to be friends but the dog’s behavior during the previous two weeks had strained the relationship. He didn’t recall cursing at Shoemake when he came back out of his apartment
Shoemake faces one felony count for inappropriate display of a weapon. She remains in custody in lieu of a $25,000 cash-only bond.