A Norfork man is accused of firing shots after being told not to drive his ATV on another person’s property. Forty-five-year-old Brent Riquelme is facing felony counts of aggravated assault and terroristic threatening.
According to the probable cause affidavit, a male reported two individuals were driving their ATVs down the railroad tracks near his property on Rivers Edge Trail south of Norfork on April 8. The victim said they were about to drive onto his property when he approached them and told them not to do so. One the drivers allegedly threatened to shoot the victim in the head and to shoot up his house, making it look like “Swiss cheese.”
The driver then reportedly pulled a handgun from the ATV rack and fired six to eight shots away from the direction of the victim. The other driver told his companion, believed to be Riquelme, they should leave and played no part in the threats. The victim also told a Baxter County deputy when the shots were fired, someone returned fire from a residence across the creek on Lodge Lane.
Two deputies later located two ATVs on Dwelle Road and identified the suspect as Riquelme, who admitted to having words with the victim but denied making threats or firing shots. Riquelme reportedly gave a 9-millimeter handgun to one of the deputies. It was fully loaded with a round in the chamber. The deputy stated it didn’t smell like it had been fired, but it did smell like it was recently swabbed with oil.
The other deputy spoke with the other ATV driver, who reportedly stated Riquelme fired his gun but later denied saying that. Both ATV drivers refused to give written statements for fear of self-incrimination.
One of the deputies later traveled to a residence on Lodge Lane. Two witnesses denied firing any shots, but they stated someone on the ATVs fired several shots. They also reportedly heard someone threatening to shoot another person’s head and house. The ATV drivers then allegedly trespassed on their property. The witnesses complained of the shots being fired near their home and livestock, but they were reportedly not eager to be involved in the matter.
Two days later, a Baxter County investigator contacted the victim by phone, who advised his wife witnessed the incident. She said she and her husband drove to where the ATV drivers were, and he got out of the truck and told them if they drove off the tracks, they would be on his property, and that wasn’t allowed. The wife corroborated her husband’s account of the threats and the shots being fired.
The investigator then contacted a fourth witness, who claimed to have heard someone firing a weapon several times. The witness stated there was more yelling followed by the firing of a semi-automatic weapon 10 times. The witness stated he heard someone saying, “You are not supposed to be trespassing up here.” Someone else reportedly said, “You have no right to tell me where I can and can’t go.” The witness reportedly did not hear any threats.
Riquelme is currently free from the Baxter County Detention Center after posting a bond of $25,000.
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