Squatter who hid sawed-off shotgun that hurt Wichita cops at vacant house gets prison
,%20Page%20%20%20%209.jpg "Wichita authorities say they think this sawed-off shotgun discharged, injuring three officers, as police moved furniture \at a vacant house in the 1400 block of South St. Francis. Police went to the home in February after its owner called 911 to report suspicious activity. The gun was tucked in the side pocket of a recliner.")
A man who squatted with his girlfriend in a vacant house where Wichita police officers were hit by rounds from a sawed-off shotgun tucked into the side pocket of a recliner they bumped into during a February burglary investigation has received a 32-month prison sentence, the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office said.
Neither James A. Hathorn, 46, nor his girlfriend, Tiffany L. Vulgamore, were inside of the house, in the 1400 block of South St. Francis, when the officers were shot there on Feb. 27.
But in handing down the sentence Tuesday, Sedgwick County District Judge David Dahl “found that while Hathorn did not intend to injure anyone, his actions in entering the home without permission and storing an illegal and loaded shotgun in the chair created an unsafe environment that led to the officers being injured,” the DA’s office said in a news release.
Public defender Jayson Mitchell had asked the judge to place Hathorn on probation, saying in a written motion that homelessness, drug addiction and frigid winter weather led his client to seek shelter in the empty house. The officers’ injuries “were the result of an accident,” he wrote.
But the judge refused the request, based on Hathorn’s criminal history and past behavior while on parole, the DA’s release says. His prior convictions include theft, aggravated assault and criminal threat, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
Three Wichita police officers were inside of the home when the shooting happened around 4 p.m. Authorities have said they were “making their way through the front room” when the shotgun, which didn’t have a trigger guard or any other safety mechanism engaged, discharged after at least one of the officers bumped into the recliner. The blast left the officers with leg injuries, some severe.
Police said earlier this year the gun was not part of a booby trap designed to ambush officers or others entering the home. The officers went to the address after its owner noticed broken windows and called 911.
But in the immediate aftermath of the blast, amid the chaos and confusion about the source of the gunfire, authorities responded with a SWAT team and bomb squad.
Hathorn, of Wichita, pleaded guilty on Sept. 29 to burglarizing the house, theft, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a sawed-off shotgun, court records show. Vulgamore, who has pleaded not guilty to counts of burglary and theft, has a jury trial in March.
This story was originally published December 16, 2021 at 2:15 PM.
