After a shooting incident and leading authorities in a manhunt Thursday, a rural Ozark County man was formally charged on Friday. According to Springfield television station KYTV, 44-year-old Ivan Mulero faces one count each of unlawful use of a weapon, unlawful possession of a firearm and child endangerment. His bond is set at $250,000.
An Ozark County deputy went to Mulero’s residence on County Road 615 Thursday afternoon on a report of a domestic dispute involving a gun being fired. The victim told the deputy Mulero became angry and fired several shots from a 9mm pistol toward her and her child. She said he then walked into the yard, fired two shots at her vehicle and began walking west on County Road 615. Mulero’s wife said the argument was over feeding the dogs.
The deputy found a bullet hole through the living room wall but no bullet. He estimated from witness accounts the shot missed the victim by two-to-three feet, the victim’s child by two-to-2 1/2 feet and Mulero’s wife by two-to-four feet.
The deputy then found a 9mm casing near the porch and two more nearly 12 feet from the victim’s vehicle. A probable cause statement reports a bullet hole was in the rear side of the vehicle’s bumper.
A manhunt for Mulero began as the Ozark County Sheriff’s Department was assisted by Baxter County deputies and helicopter, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Arkansas Department of Correction’s North Central Unit K9 Tracking Team from Calico Rock. He was arrested just before nine p.m. at the home next to his residence.
A detective reports Mulero admitted during a jail interview he became angry because he felt his wife and the victim disrespected him at his residence. He says the victim was supposed to stay at his home for a few days, but he became angry because she offered to feed the dogs. Mulero said it was his job to feed the dogs, and he didn’t like her talking about it to his wife. When he ordered the victim to leave, she refused because it wasn’t just his house and she was there with his wife. Mulero says he then fired four shots in her direction, walked over to her vehicle and fired two more at its rear end. He went into the house for a can of soda, went back into the yard and threw the drink at the victim and her child missing the child’s head by inches. Mulero says he fired two more shots into the woods and hid the firearm before his arrest.
Mulero faces five-to-15 years for unlawful use of a weapon, three-to-ten years for unlawful possession of a firearm and up to seven years for child endangerment. His first court appearance is scheduled for June 13th.
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