News Channel 3 Memphis TN:Â Cordova Man Charged With Shooting At Bicyclist
Kelly Hessedal
9:08 PM CST, February 2, 2010
(Bartlett 2/2/2010) A bizarre story out of Bartlett. Police charged a man they say shot at a bicyclist because of how he looked.
It happened about 4:30 a.m. Sunday near the 3100 North Germantown Road.
36-year-old Brian Mashburn, an operations manager for a security company, told police he and a buddy had just been out drinking at a club and decided to take his pick-up truck out for a drive.
An officer parked in the area says he saw Mashburn’s truck pass by a bicyclist headed in the opposite direction.
He then heard 4 gunshots. The report states the passenger told cops “they saw a male riding a bike” who “looked like a ’crackhead’ so they wanted to scare him.’”
“I’m not aware of any crackheads in the neighborhood so I’m very surprised by that,” said neighbor Vicki Anderson.
She was just as stunned to find out Mashburn admitted to cops he had fired his gun and he’d been drinking.
“Well that’s probably what inspired him to shoot at a cyclist if he’d been drinking and driving,” said Anderson.
Officers searched Mashburn’s truck and found an expandable baton, a Sig Sauer handgun and 5 boxes of ammunition. The police report states the handgun was missing 4 rounds from its 8 round magazine. Cops also found a pair of brass knuckles.
Fortunately, Mashburn didn’t hit the bicyclist or anyone else.
He now faces charges of everything from Reckless Endangerment to Unlawful Possession of a Weapon to Possession of a Weapon while Intoxicated.
No one answered the door at his Cordova home.
“Very nice guy, I wouldn’t think that about him at all,” said Marilyn Parker.
She describes him as a good neighbor.
“I just know he works out or something, takes care of the yard real well and the house,” she said.
Back on Germantown Road..
“I think it’s horrible,” said Anderson.
Angry neighbors shudder to think about what could’ve happened.
We checked Mashburn’s record in Shelby County. He was arrested for DUI back in 2004. Court records state he performed poorly on 3 field sobriety tests, but was only found guilty of Driving on a Suspended License and Refusing to Take a Breathalyzer.
He is out of jail on a $75,000 bond.
