Staff writer
Ten days after being arrested on multiple drug charges, a Hillsboro teen has been charged with aggravated assault for allegedly threatening another teen with a BB gun that resembles a .44 magnum.
Clayton Tate Lingenfelter, 18, Hillsboro, was arrested after police officer Steven Janzen responded to a report at 10:45 p.m. June 22 of a man waving a pistol at another person in a domestic situation at Madison and 1st Sts.
Marion officers Lee Vogel and Mike Stone, and county sheriff’s deputies Wilma Mueller, Lyle Gillett, and Bronson Shipman responded to the incident.
“The situation involved several juveniles,” Janzen said. “Basically, Lingenfelter believed that the juvenile he threatened had relations with his girlfriend.”
At least three witnesses told Janzen they saw Lingenfelter “pointing and waving” what they believed was a .44 magnum revolver at the juvenile.
Lingenfelter also allegedly threatened to shoot the juvenile, Janzen said.
“None of them knew it was a BB gun until afterward,” Janzen said. “They all described it as a .44 magnum.
“Apparently, it’s something he has carried for some time because several witnesses said they had previously seen him with a .44 revolver multiple times.”
Lingenfelter did not have the weapon in his possession when Janzen searched him.
“He denied everything except for being there,” Janzen said.
After questioning witnesses, Janzen found the weapon at the home of one of Lingenfelter’s juvenile friends. He thinks Lingenfelter gave it to the friend to hide after the incident.
Only after seeing the gun did Janzen determine it was a CO2 powered weapon seemingly identical to a .44 magnum revolver.
“I’ve never seen one like it,” Janzen said. “Everything on it functioned like a revolver.”
The weapon had plastic cartridges that looked like bullets but instead could hold BBs and pellets.
Discovery that the alleged weapon was not a bullet-firing revolver did not change the charges Lingenfelter faces because he allegedly presented it to the victim and witnesses as a deadly weapon.
Lingenfelter now faces aggravated assault charges in addition to charges of distribution of marijuana, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia from his June 12 arrest.
The incident also marks the second time in five weeks law enforcement officials have handled a gun threat in Hillsboro.
The other involved Irineo Martinez, 36, Hillsboro, who allegedly threatened his roommate in a dispute over rent money May 11 in downtown Hillsboro.