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Staff writer

A 20-year-old Ham Lake man was given two years of probation at a Nov. 5 sentencing hearing for shooting out his 18-year-old ex-girlfriend’s car window with a BB gun.

Shawn Thomas Bricker was charged April 17 in Anoka County District Court with a felony count of domestic assault by strangulation and two misdemeanor level charges of attempting to inflict bodily harm and fourth degree damage to property.

Bricker pled guilty Oct. 23 to all three charges, but sentencing for the domestic assault charge was dismissed. He must pay $328.05 in fines, which includes $85 in court fees and $143.05 in restitution to the victim.

According to the criminal complaint, police received a call at 12:30 p.m. on April 15 from a mother who reported that she had received a call from her daughter about an incident with her ex-boyfriend.

The mother reported that they were fighting and Bricker shot out her daughter’s car window with a BB gun.

Authorities immediately responded to Bricker’s home at 9002 Birchview Lane and saw that the back passenger window of the female victim’s car was shattered and glass was inside the car.

Police interviewed both Bricker and his ex-girlfriend at the scene.

The victim reported that they had broken up the previous evening and she had stopped by his home to pick up her personal property.

She said that Bricker called her names, so she punched him in the shoulder. During their fight, Bricker allegedly threw her belongings outside.

At one point during the argument, Bricker put his arm around his ex-girlfriend’s neck in a choke hold.

In a post-Miranda statement, Bricker admitted to putting her in a choke hold, but he said he did this to restrain her because she hit him.

Bricker said he let go when she said she could not breathe. The victim’s version of the story was Bricker did not let go until she elbowed him.

The ex-girlfriend said as she was starting to leave, she hit a lamp and broke the light bulb. Bricker confirmed his ex-girlfriend’s story that he wanted to break something of hers because she broke something of his.

According to the complaint, he grabbed his Daisy air gun and went outside and shot at his ex-girlfriend’s car two times. She told police that she was walking to her car when she heard the first pellet bounce off her car window. She was sitting inside her car when the second BB pellet shattered her back passenger window.

Bricker said his intent was to break the window, but not harm her.

Eric Hagen is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it