Laguna Niguel man accused of shooting at sheriff's helicopter – Orange County Register

SANTA ANA — A 39-year-old Laguna Niguel man accused of shooting at an Orange County sheriff's helicopter pleaded not guilty Monday in Santa Ana federal court.

Justin Derek Jennings was arrested Monday on a federal grand jury indictment returned last week when state prosecutors dropped attempted murder charges against him to make way for the case federal.

Jennings had been charged by the Orange County District Attorney's Office with two counts of attempted murder and a single count each of assault with a semi-automatic rifle on a peace officer and shooting on a helicopter. Jennings also faced sentencing enhancements for attempted premeditated murder and firing a firearm.

Jennings is now charged in federal court with one count of attempting to damage, destroy or disable an aircraft. He was ordered held without bail and his trial is scheduled for August 5.

Sheriff's deputies were called to the 31000 block of Golden Lantern around 9 p.m. March 9, where a man fired a rifle inside a home during a domestic dispute, said department Sgt. from the Orange County Sheriff. Frank Gonzalez said earlier this year.

Officers placed the neighborhood on lockdown for a short time after the suspect fired his gun again after family members came out of the home he was in, Gonzalez said.

Some bullets nearly hit police officers outside the home and a sheriff's helicopter, Gonzalez said.

The confrontation lasted about 30 minutes, according to Gonzalez.

Jennings, who had been drinking, was celebrating his birthday when he became upset and eventually retrieved a gun from a home safe and emptied an entire magazine of ammunition in the house, federal prosecutors said.

The defendant is accused of firing a rifle into the air as a sheriff's helicopter flew overhead, prosecutors said. The shooting continued intermittently for about 20 minutes before a sheriff's deputy persuaded him to surrender, prosecutors said.

Authorities seized two revolvers, two handguns and two rifles as well as several rounds of ammunition from the home, prosecutors said.