18-year-old launches firework mortar at hovering police helicopter, Tennessee cops say
A Tennessee man is facing charges after police say he launched a firework mortar at their helicopter.
The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department tweeted Saturday that 18-year-old John Schmid of Franklin, Tennessee, fired the mortar at the department’s helicopter just after midnight.
The helicopter was flying 500 feet over a parking lot on Haywood Lane for a “street racing initiative,” police say.
A detective saw Schmid looking up at the helicopter before going to a car to get a mortar tube and firing it at the aircraft, police say, according to The Associated Press.
Police told local outlet WZTV that Schmid tried to leave but that an officer found him on the scene and took him into custody. Additional mortar tubes and fireworks were found in the car, and police called a bomb squad to remove them, the outlet reports.
Schmid is “jailed on (two counts) of (aggravated) assault on police and felony reckless endangerment,” the police department tweeted Saturday.
No additional information was released as of Monday.
This story was originally published July 5, 2021 at 11:15 AM with the headline "18-year-old launches firework mortar at hovering police helicopter, Tennessee cops say."
