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Bounty Hunter Shoots First, Answers Many Questions Later

Court challenge focuses on whether ‘warning shots’ are appropriate

By CHRISTIAN NOLAN

It was like scenes from a movie or perhaps the A&E network reality TV show “Dog the Bounty Hunter.” Except this time it was much closer to home, as an armed bond enforcement agent hunted down a fugitive on the streets of New Haven.

They ran down Columbus Avenue. The fugitive allegedly flashed a gun. Since there were civilians around, the bounty hunter decided to fire a warning shot into the air, towards a tree, so everyone would hit the ground.

Everyone did. Including the fugitive, who was apprehended unharmed. In the end, everyone was happy and the bounty hunter was a hero, right? Wrong.

The bounty hunter, Ronald McGibony, ended up in a heap of trouble over that warning shot. He was arrested on a misdemeanor charge for his reckless gun fire, and ultimately lost his gun permit in the state. To make matters worse, police never found a weapon in the possession of the suspect.

McGibony’s no longer chasing down fugitives in Connecticut and may have to move elsewhere, like Florida, where he is also licensed.

Believing that his client has gotten a raw deal, attorney Frank Cannatelli, of Meriden, has been challenging the state’s Board of Firearms Permit Examiners ruling that took away McGibony’s right to carry a weapon. “You don’t do that,” said Cannatelli. “That’s the way he makes his living, with his gun.”

Unlike the bail bondsmen they work for, bounty hunters in Connecticut are licensed through the State Police and regulated by the state Department of Public Safety.

Connecticut law requires that the bail enforcement agents, typically out to apprehend suspects who have dodged court appearances, obtain a state gun carry permit, complete eight hours of training and be issued a supplemental bail enforcement agent firearm permit.

'Dangerous, Reckless’

McGibony, 61, lives in West Haven and worked as an independent contractor for Sylvia Bail Bonds in North Haven. He was able to get his criminal charge dropped but the judge said the fate of his gun permit remained in the hands of the state Board of Firearms Permit Examiners. A hearing took place this past winter and the ruling against McGibony shortly thereafter was not all that surprising, according to a national bounty hunter expert.

“The first thing you tell all your students,” explained Mel Barth, executive director for the National Association of Bail Enforcement Agents, “you may not fire a warning shot.

“It’s dangerous, reckless and cannot be done,” continued Barth, who is also a firearms instructor and has written a training manual for bail enforcement. “Where the bullet lands, you know not where. And he frightened a bunch of innocent people.”

The state Board of Firearms Examiners agreed, describing the bounty hunter’s actions as the “sloppy handling of a firearm.” New Britain Judge Henry Cohn, in a written opinion released earlier this month, upheld the board’s decision. Cohn wrote that it was not his place to retry or substitute the judgment of an administrative agency.

“Under the standard set out…there is evidence…that the plaintiff fired a warning shot and that the felon was not witnessed to have a gun and that there were innocent bystanders in the immediate area,” wrote Cohn. “There was substantial evidence…to support the board’s factual conclusions.”

Cannatelli, however, is upset with the rulings and plans to again appeal after further studying this area of the law.

“[McGibony] could’ve shot the guy,” said Cannatelli, who maintains that there were two witnesses who claimed to have seen the suspect with a gun. “Instead of doing that he fired a warning shot because he wanted to get everyone in the area to realize that deadly force was going to be used.

“There was nothing sloppy about it,” continued Cannatelli. “It was intentional. I don’t think he did anything wrong.

Cannatelli said police told him that if the suspect really had a gun and McGibony felt threatened, he should have shot the fugitive. “If he has the authority to shoot him why doesn’t he have the authority to fire a warning shot then?”

But Barth, the national expert, wasn’t buying that line of thinking.

“I teach my students don’t wound the SOB, kill him,” said Barth. “When someone’s about to do serious bodily harm…that’s when the gun comes out, you shoot, and you’re justified. How could [the fugitive] have threatened [McGibony] with a weapon when he was running away? He was no threat whatsoever.”

Barth, who boasted that he’s never used a gun in apprehending a suspect in his 27 years, said the reason one shoots to kill is that shooting to injure or shooting up in the air too often ends up in innocent bystanders getting shot.

But Cannatelli thinks if his client had shot the fugitive, “then he’d be sitting in a jail cell facing a murder charge.” •