From David Richie:
At least six El Dorado County sheriff's deputies and a sheriff's sergeant were involved in the arrest of a Camino man suspected of firing off several rounds from a pistol outside a bar Friday night.
On Wednesday afternoon, Michael Joseph Barrett, 52, was still in jail facing a felony charge of suspicion of illegal and negligent discharge of a firearm.
The deputies responded to the Pine Lodge on Pony Express Trail in Pollock Pines just after midnight Saturday, but Barrett and his friend had already departed. While deputies interviewed witnesses at the bar, another deputy spotted a vehicle matching the description of the suspects' vehicle at a nearby convenience store.
The deputy ordered the man and woman in that vehicle to the ground at gunpoint. They were held until it was determined that they had been nowhere near Pine Lodge that night.
Eventually deputies determined that the two suspects were regulars that usually do their drinking at a different time of day. Bartenders knew their first names, but not their last names or where they lived.
As the investigation continued, the suspect vehicle was spotted parked outside a unit in a nearby mobile park. Barrett was found asleep on the floor inside the mobile home. He initially denied any involvement in the shooting. Witnesses, however, positively identified him and he was taken into custody.
During a second interview with deputies, Barrett said he was "plastered" when he stumbled across the parking lot to retrieve a Makarov 9 mm pistol from his friend's truck. Barrett could not remember how many shots he fired in the air as they made their exit.
No weapon was recovered during the investigation.
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