CINCINNATI — A Cincinnati man is facing multiple felony charges after he allegedly fired 20 rounds from a semi-automatic rifle into an apartment building, investigators said.
Charles Alfornia Rachel, 43, allegedly got into an argument with a group of residents outside an apartment building on 3415 McHenry Avenue in East Westwood on May 11. He then walked away from the apartment building and met an unknown man in the parking lot, investigators said. According to court documents, witnesses saw the man hand Rachel a semi-automatic rifle. When Rachel returned to the building, he allegedly walked up to the second floor and fired 20 .223 caliber rounds into an apartment and the laundry room next door.
The apartment was occupied by three people.
It is unclear if anyone was shot.
Rachel is charged with three counts of felonious assault, improperly discharging a firearm into a habitation or school safety zone and having weapons under disability.
Police said there are two other unknown suspects but did not say if they are searching for them. They also did not say if one of those suspects is the man who allegedly handed Rachel the gun.
Police have not said what the argument was about but the incident report shows one of the unknown suspects punched one of the victims in the face before the shooting.
Rachel made his first court appearance Monday. His lawyer told a Hamilton County judge that Rachel denies firing into the apartment and instead was a victim himself.
"He relays to me that he was shot in the back and actually drove himself to University hospital. He denies firing into the apartment. It indicates to me that the person who shot him in the back actually was residing or was at that particular apartment he's accused of firing into," public defender Derek Gufstason said.
The Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office confirmed Rachel had been shot but argued he pulled the trigger first.
"Twenty shell casings from a .223 caliber rifle — an AR caliber rifle — were recovered in the hallway of the second floor of that apartment complex. The defendant was shot in the shoulder," the prosecutor said. "That's why he went to the hospital but I seriously doubt he fired those rounds after he was shot."
The prosecutor's office then requested "very high bonds" for Rachel.
The judge set bond at $50,000 for each of Rachel's five counts for a combined total of $250,000.
The judge also handed the case to a grand jury with a decision by May 24 at the prosecutor's office's request.
Rachel is currently being held in the Hamilton County Justice Center.
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