A Hillsboro woman who fired shots at a vehicle outside their home was sentenced to two years in prison on an assault charge in Highland County Common Pleas Court late last week.

Jennifer Baker, 60, was sentenced on one count of felonious assault, a second-degree felony, and a forfeiture specification. She was also given one day of jail-time credit.

Court records stated that a Remington 870 12-gauge shotgun was subject to forfeiture to the Highland County Sheriff’s Office.

According to court documents for both counts, around Oct. 28, 2022, a deputy was dispatched to an address on Walnut Shade Road in reference to a report from Baker that somebody was driving by their residence while yelling and making threats. Baker then said that she fired her shotgun at that person. While the deputy was driving to the location, Baker called the sheriff’s office again and said someone drove by the home again in a truck and shot at her. She said she couldn’t get a description of the vehicle.

A sergeant and deputy responded. As the deputy got close to Butler Road, the officer saw an older model Chevrolet truck going in the deputy’s direction. The deputy radio, but the sergeant radioed back stating that the truck had hit the patrol vehicle.

The deputy continued to follow the truck and activated their it’s overhead lights and siren as they continued on Walnut Shade Road. The truck didn’t stop but eventually pulled into a private driveway on South Elmville Road that was “just inside” the Adams County line. The deputy told dispatch about and continued to follow the truck down the driveway. The driver of the truck then stopped in front of a barn near a home. The deputyexited the patrol vehicle and held the driver of the truck at gunpoint, according to court records.

The driver exited the vehicle and rushed at the deputy in an “aggressive manner.” The deputy told the subject to stop all of actions and get on the ground, but the suspect continued their aggressive path towards the deputy. The deputy continued to try and instruct the subject to get on the ground. After the commands, the deputy holstered their firearm and deployed their taser on the subject, who fell to the ground.

The deputy gave the approaching subject more commands to stop and place their hands behind their back. The subject tried to stand up, which resulted in the deputy commanding them to stop a few more times before they tased the subject again. The subject then rolled over and put their hands behind their back.

The deputy handcuffed the subject and placed them in the back of the patrol vehicle. The deputy could also smell “a strong odor of alcohol” on the suspects and saw that they looked to be “highly intoxicated.” The sergeant then arrived and the deputy told the sergeant what happened. The suspect started to yell from the back of the patrol vehicle.

The sergeant opened the cruiser’s door and read the suspect’s Miranda Rights, and the suspect told the sergeant about a firearm that they threw the firearm out of the window while on Walnut Shade Road.

While the officers were doing an inventory of the truck, the deputy saw “several” marks on the vehicle from the front passenger headlight to the back of the tailgate, with the passenger window of the truck also shattered. The deputy also saw marks on the truck that seemed to be buckshot. A separate deputy then returned to Baker’s location on Walnut Shade Road to make contact with her.

Baker said that at around 2 a.m., she heard a motor rev up in front of her house, after which she exited her residence with a shotgun because she knew the person in front of her home. Baker then said that the other subject drove past, came back and stopped the vehicle. Baker fired her shotgun and then said that “she had better find more bullets.”

The truck returned to Baker’s residence and the driver fired a shotgun, after which they turned around again and shot another time at her. The Remington 870 12-gauge shotgun fired by Baker was seized as evidence. While the other subject was being taken to the Highland County Justice Center, they said that they were sorry and that after being shot at on Walnut Shade Road, they yelled out the window at Baker “that she needed to get more ammo because he was coming back.”

While Baker admitted to shooting at the truck, she also said that she had issues with the other subject “over the past few years” and was tired of them.

While at Baker’s residence on Oct. 28, 2022, in reference to a welfare check, Baker told a deputy that if she saw the other subject again, she would “kill him.” Baker also said on July 31, 2022, that she wanted to shoot them when they came to her residence and broke a window of a truck and tried to knock down a gate with their vehicle.

Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.