An 18-year-old man was arrested Sunday, July 26, after Hamilton County Sheriff's deputies found him standing outside his vehicle on I-71 North with a loaded rifle and spent casings scattered on the highway.
Aaron Phelan faces charges of aggravated menacing and discharging a firearm on a prohibited premises, the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office said in a press release. He was being held at the Hamilton County Jail ahead of a Monday, July 27, court appearance.
No one was injured.
What happened
Deputies responded around 5 a.m. Sunday to reports of a man with a rifle in the northbound lanes of I-71 near the 9.4 mile marker, close to the Norwood Lateral and the Red Bank Road exit.
When deputies arrived, they found Phelan outside his vehicle with the rifle. They arrested him at the scene and recovered the weapon. Spent rifle casings on the pavement indicated the gun had been fired, the sheriff's office said.
The northbound lanes were briefly shut down during the response.
No target identified
The sheriff's office said there is no indication Phelan was targeting specific individuals or vehicles. Whether drugs or alcohol played a role has not been determined.
Aggravated menacing is a first-degree misdemeanor in Ohio. Discharging a firearm on a prohibited premises is a fourth-degree felony.
The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office, which also provides around-the-clock police services to Sycamore Township, responded to the incident on a stretch of I-71 used by area residents traveling to and from downtown Cincinnati.
