Man sentenced for firing shotgun into apartment

Blake Witcher, 19, of Cape Girardeau was sentenced to four years in the Missouri Department of Corrections, with a suspended execution of sentence, and five years of supervised probation after pleading guilty to unlawful use of a weapon.

He was originally charged with endangering the welfare of a child, but that charge was dropped.

Witcher was accused of discharging a shotgun into an apartment on Sheridan Drive in Cape Girardeau. The round exited Witcher’s apartment and entered a neighboring apartment, where a child was living.

The incident occurred June 2. Witcher originally told a reporting witness that he thought someone was breaking into their apartment when he fired the weapon, but he told an investigating officer he did not think that, before changing his story, according to a probable cause statement signed by Cape Girardeau officer Zachary Lewis.