Gunshot on New Year's Eve Leads to Charges for Kent Man

A Kent man has pleaded not guilty to discharging a firearm within city limits on New Year's Eve.

Mitchell S. Waller, 49, of 438 E. School St., pleaded not guilty Jan. 3 to one count of having a weapon while intoxicated, one count of discharging a firearm and two counts of aggravated menacing, all of which are first-degree misdemeanors.

Kent Police Lt. James Prusha said, according to witnesses, a man and woman were walking home near the corner of East School Street and South Lincoln Street when the man stopped to urinate in the street.

Prusha said witnesses reported Waller started yelling at them and waving the gun in the air before firing a shot.

"The shot up was up into the air, and after doing that he pointed the gun toward them," Prusha said.

Police responded to the call of shots fired at about 4 a.m. Jan. 1.

Prusha said officers did not recover a gun but did find a shotgun shell. Officers conducted a gunshot residue test on Waller to determine if he had fired a gun recently, but those test results won't be back for several weeks.

Waller is scheduled for a pretrial hearing on the charges on Feb. 14 in Portage County Municipal Court Judge Barbara Oswick's courtroom.