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Last updated on Wednesday, September 23, 2015
(BLOOMINGTON) - The Indiana Conservation Officers Scuba Team located and recovered a 12-gauge shotgun near the intake of Lake Monroe Reservoir Dam Tuesday afternoon.
The shotgun is believed to have been used in the attempted murder of 58-year-old David Sheese of Spencer on September 17.
Police arrested 54-year-old Danny J. Howe of Bloomington on charges of attempted murder and obstruction of justice in that shooting.
The weapon was found by divers at a depth of 40 feet, at the base of the old Salt Creek channel.
Divers reported that extreme contour changes of the lake and underwater structures in the area made the search particularly tedious.
The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers engaged the emergency gates on the dam so divers could work safely in the area.
Hours after the shooting, police found Howe in the driveway of his Monroe County home in the 8500 block of South Fairfax Road. When police arrived, Howe's garage was engulfed in flames. His blue Jeep Liberty, which was parked inside the garage, was destroyed.
Howe was detained and taken to the Owen County Correctional Center around 2 a.m. Friday. The Owen County Prosecutor's Office flied charges against Howe on Monday.
Howe was charged with obstruction of justice after he allegedly threw the shotgun used in the shooting into Lake Monroe.
He also gave police incorrect information on where the gun was, causing divers to fail in their first search for the weapon.
The shooting happened on Bryansville Road, south of Spencer around 10 p.m. on Thursday. According to Owen County police, officers were called to the scene after a report of a motorcycle accident and shooting.
Sheese was flown by a medical helicopter to Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis, where he is listed in critical but stable condition.
Before Sheese was flown from the scene he told police Howe was the man who hit him with a dark-colored Jeep Liberty. He also said that Howe shot him. Howe is the former boyfriend of the woman Sheese had just started dating. Sheese also told police he was worried about the woman's safety and wanted officers to go to her Ellettsville home to check on her.
The woman told police Howe had been stalking and harassing her once she started dating Sheese.
On Thursday, the woman and Sheese went on a motorcycle ride and the Sheese had left her home around 9:15 p.m. When she didn't hear from him, she "worried something bad might happen because Danny was so unstable."
Howe told police that he was driving by the woman's residence when Sheese was leaving on his motorcycle and gave Howe the finger. That upset him. He told police he followed Sheese because he "just wanted to talk to the guy."
Howe claims Sheese "brake checked" him, causing him to rear-end the motorcycle. Howe told police he went to check on Sheese who had been thrown from the motorcycle into a weeded area on the side of the road. Howe claims Sheese began jumping up and grabbing him, so he went back to his Jeep, took out is 12-gauge shotgun and fired once at Sheese. But in another statement to police Howe admitted to approaching Sheese with the shotgun in the "ready position," got scared and shot Sheese.
After the shooting officers went to Howe's home on Fairfax Road at 12:46 a.m. Friday. There they found Howe and a garage engulfed in flames.
After the fire was put out, firefighters discovered a burned-out Jeep or sport utility vehicle inside the garage.
Firefighters from Perry-Clear Creek, Van Buren and Indian Creek battled the garage fire.
The cause of the garage and Jeep fire cannot be determined because of the blaze's extensive damage, according to Perry-Clear Creek fire Chief Dustin Dillard. There were no signs of an explosion. Howe told investigators he had had mechanical problems with the Jeep and had it towed to his residence that Thursday night. He said it exploded in the garage.
Police spoke to Sheese on Saturday. He told police Howe followed him from Jiffy Treet in Ellettsville to McCormick's Creek State Park to the McDonald's in Spencer, to Pottersville Road and then to Braysville Road. That is where Howe rammed and pushed the motorcycle. Sheese says he applied his brakes and that caused the motorcycle to slide into the weeded area causing Sheese to be thrown from the motorcycle. Howe then allegedly approached Sheese with the shotgun, pointing it at his head. Sheese told police he grabbed the barrel of the gun which startled Howe, causing him to step back and fire one shot.
After being hit by the blast, Sheese says Howe then approached him again to see if he was breathing. Sheese says he played dead so Howe would not shoot him again.
Sheese says Howe then got back into his Jeep and fled the scene, squealing his tires as he left.
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