Montana security guard shot but bullet passes through clothing without injury
Butte MT Nov 15 2017
A Montana lounge security guard is lucky to be alive after a woman shot him with a 38-caliber handgun and the bullet passed through two shirts and exited without injury.
Sarah Baldwin, 31, of Butte is being held on two felony counts of attempted deliberate homicide and two felony counts of criminal endangerment for nearly shooting the bouncer of the Acoma Lounge in the early hours of Sunday morning.
According to Butte-Silver Bow Sheriff Ed Lester, Baldwin came out of a bathroom and fired a shot at the bouncer of the Acoma Lounge, 60 E. Broadway St., at 2 a.m. Sunday. The bullet went through two shirts the bouncer was wearing, but he was not hurt.
Lester said police still do not know Baldwin’s motivation for firing. The bar was closing, and the only people left inside the bar were the bouncer, a female bartender, and a cocktail waitress, Lester said. Baldwin allegedly went into the women’s restroom, and the bouncer knocked on the door to ask her to leave since the bar was about to close. When Baldwin stepped out, she allegedly produced a .38 caliber automatic and fired one round at the bouncer. Police retrieved the bullet in the wall, Lester said.
Because the bullet came so close, the bouncer initially thought he’d been shot. The bartender then tackled Baldwin, and the two went down a few steps and out a back doorway on Wyoming St., according to Lester. During the struggle, another shot was fired, Lester said. Police found that bullet in a wall in the stairwell.
Police were already in the area when the incident occurred and saw the bartender sitting on top of Baldwin on Wyoming Street outside the lounge, Lester said. They responded before anyone in the bar had a chance to call dispatch.
Undersheriff George Skuletich said Baldwin appeared in Butte Justice Court Monday. Her bond was set at $100,000.
“This appears sudden, unexpected,” Lester said during a news conference Monday. “The bouncer had on a tank top basketball shirt over a sweater. He came about as close as you can possibly get to getting shot without getting shot.”
In addition to the more severe counts, police also booked Baldwin on a misdemeanor count of carrying a concealed weapon while under the influence and a misdemeanor count of carrying a concealed weapon in a prohibited place.
