CRIME

Man arrested after allegedly turning Cape Coral apartment into gun range, nearly hits sleeping couple

Michael Braun
The News-Press
Bakh

A Cape Coral man allegedly taking target practice inside his Skyline Boulevard apartment Sunday morning nearly shot several neighbors as they slept.

Ivan Bakh, 61, was arrested after police found he had fired a handgun inside his apartment, with the round traveling just over the heads of sleeping neighbors in a next-door apartment.

Shortly before 9 a.m. Cape Coral police responded to 3420 Skyline Blvd. spoke with a couple who said they awoke to a loud bang and saw a large hole in the headboard of their bed.

A resident of an apartment on Skyline Boulevard was arrested Sunday after Cape Coral police said he shot at a target in his home with a 9mm handgun, narrowly missing two people sleeping next door.

Another hole could be seen in the dresser mirror at the foot of their bed.

After getting up to investigate they saw a hole in the adjacent living room (behind the mirror), and an additional hole in the far wall of the living room.

After officers spoke with Bakh, the couple's neighbor, they noticed a large hole in the wall leading to the couple's apartment.

Police found a target composed of multiple books taped together and drawn on with a red marker on the wall in Bakh's apartment adjacent to the couple's apartment.

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An NRA sticker and a Marine logo grace a window at an apartment building on Skyline Boulevard where a resident was arrested Sunday after Cape Coral police said he shot at a target in his unit with a 9mm handgun, narrowly missing two people sleeping next door.

The multiple-book target was shot with three rounds and appeared to have been penetrated by one or more of the rounds. A 9 mm bullet casing was found in a  hallway between the bathroom and the bedroom of Bakh's residence, police said.

Police said they found a safe containing a 9mm Glock handgun with rounds inside the magazine of the handgun matching the spent casing found inside the residence. 

Bakh, charged with firing a weapon in public and shooting into a dwelling, remains in Lee County Jail on no bond. He will be arraigned March 9.

Nobody was home Monday afternoon at the apartment complex that contains five units. An apartment that had an enveloped addressed to Bakh taped to the door  had a bumper sticker saying "Supporting the Second Amendment" and  "American and Proud." National Rifle Association and Marine Corps stickers were on the window.

Staff writer Sarah Jarvis contributed to this report.

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