Drunk Fires Gun Toward Cops In Occoquan: Police

OCCOQUAN, VA—A man who took a shot at officers and later approached them to talk while they were searching for an unknown shooter ultimately was arrested early Sunday on a manner of charges, according to Prince William County Police.

Paul Anthony Mata, 37, of the 200 block of Mill Cross Lane, was charged with two counts of attempted malicious wounding of a law enforcement officer, one count of reckless handling of a firearm, one count of shooting into an occupied dwelling, one count of possession of a scheduled I or II narcotic, one count of possession of a firearm with a scheduled narcotic and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia.

Around 2:45 a.m., police went to a residence in the 1400 block of Occoquan Heights Court for a reported landlord-tenant dispute. Once finished with that, they were standing near their marked cruisers near the front of the residence when a gunshot was heard that seemed to be directed toward the officers.

The cops immediately took cover, and called for additional units, including a Fairfax County Police helicopter and a Prince William County Police K-9 unit. During this search, an apparently drunk guy approached the scene and was told to return to his home, which he did.

Police kept investigating the shot and found that it came close to hitting officers before hitting the garage door to a separate residence on Occoquan Heights Court. No injuries were reported. While canvassing the neighborhood, officers were told a man was seen on the rear deck of his residence, and that it sounded like that's where the shot was fired from.

So police got a search warrant for the residence and found a gun as well as suspected narcotics.

Photo: Prince William County Police