Police say that a drunk father in Milton fired a gun from his porch a few weeks ago and suggested the idea of shooting himself to his son.
Michael K. Gilfillan, 48, was arrested on April 17 and charged with disorderly conduct and discharging a firearm while intoxicated. No one was injured in the incident, police said.
Police arrived at Gilfillan’s home on Manor Bridge Drive that night at 11:35 p.m. Police said that Gilfillan’s wife and three children locked themselves in a room in a home after hearing a gunshot, fearing for their safety. The wife and children managed to escape the home and were in the backyard when police arrived.
Responding officers approached the scene with their weapons drawn and approached the front porch from both sides. There, officers found Gilfillan sitting quietly on the front porch. Police said they asked him to show his hands and he complied.
Gilfillan was handcuffed and an officer found a Glock 19-9MM handgun next to him. Police said Gilfillan appeared “very intoxicated” when they were speaking with him, but he admitted to firing his gun into a large line of bushes near his home.
Gilfillan told police that he was “going through a divorce and needed to blow off some steam.” He also told police he had not shot the gun in several years and it was typically kept in the attic away from his children.
According to a police report, Gilfillan told police several times that he really didn’t know why he fired the gun, but was “upset and just wanted to.” He said there was no domestic dispute in the home that night and he did not wish to harm himself or anyone in the home.
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Police then spoke with Gilfillan’s wife and 17-year-old son. The son told police that his father was “severely intoxicated” and that at one point in the evening, Gilfillan asked his son, “What would happen if your father shot himself in the head?”
The son told police that’s when Gilfillan retrieved the Glock from the attic. The son told police he was scared that his father was going to hurt himself or another family member. He called 911 immediately after hearing the shot.
Police also took a Mulberry 500A 12-gauge shotgun from the home that was stored in Gilfillan’s closet.
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