By Donna Westfall – December 24, 2017 – Have you ever been awakened by a noise in the middle of the night, maybe something that sounded like the pop pop of a gun shot or two, rolled over and gone back to sleep?

A lot of those “pop” sounds turn out to be fireworks and can happen any time of the year besides the 4th of July. It doesn’t happen too often, but it does happen.

Now, let’s say the next morning you find broken glass in your living room floor the next day. Ah oh! Alarm bells sound. What the heck is going on?

Dave Egan, of the BlackHawk Pistol series originally published in Crescent City Times starting in 2014, awoke to find four gun shots through his living room window on Monday, December 18th and then remembered back to the wee hours of the morning when he heard those “pop pop” sounds.

What to do?

Ordinarily, if you talk to most people around town, they would suggest calling law enforcement and reporting it. That’s a luxury that Dave Egan can’t enjoy. His distrust of the Sheriff’s Department is enormous and with good cause.

He thinks it’s someone from law enforcement that’s trying to kill him and his beloved dog, Schnickers. Plus, the next night, someone threw a brick at his house and yelled out, “BlackHawk!”

Nevertheless, he did overcome his anxiety and reported it to ALL law enforcement agencies in town. Come to find out, Police Chief Minsal was out of town for the holidays as well as Sheriff Apperson.

Still, reason prevailed and Dave called the Sheriff’s Department because he lives in the County. Sheriff’s Deputy Asbury did come out to examine the shots.

Could it be that every time mention is made in social media that the Sheriff’s Department never returned half of Dave’s gun collection from the illegal raid they conducted at his property the morning of August 18, 2011, Dave can count on some form of retaliation; like trying to run him and his dog over with their vehicle?

Some of the deputies that pulled their SWAT-like raid into Dave’s house back in 2011 are no longer on the local force. Among them, Seth Cimino who had his gun leveled at Dave through the bathroom window, left town. Bob Barber, who orchestrated the raid, quit and left town the day after Erik Apperson was elected Sheriff.

Joe Garcia was not part of that August 2011 raid because he had been relieved of his duties the year before. Speaking of Joe Garcia and based on a source who needs to remain anonymous, there’s chatter that Joe was an honest cop when he joined the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Department. But it didn’t take him long to learn the ways of the supposed corrupt cops and do them one better. Only problem, he got caught and charged with burglary, grand theft and possession of narcotics stemming from incidents dating back to 2007. Garcia died November 11, 2017.

Could it be that the good cops on the local force know that being a snitch against the bad cops just doesn’t work. So, is there a continuing problem with corrupt cops?

Another important death connected with the BlackHawk Pistol series occurred when Lee Forrest died.

Forrest died in Brookings, Oregon at the age of 73 on November 16, 2017. Lee Forrest admitted to Dave that he was responsible for the whole nightmare by falsely reporting that he returned the allegedly stolen Black Hawk Pistol to Dave. Lee Forrest never possessed the BlackHawk Pistol. He never got the pistol from Dave Egan. But, based on paperwork provided, Forrest’s State Farm insurance policy was canceled. This wasn’t his first rodeo so to speak on obtaining insurance payouts. He had an extensive firearm collection that he safely secreted away while he claimed they had been stolen. However, instead of Forrest going to jail for falsely reporting stolen weapons, he concocted the whole Dave Egan has the allegedly stolen BlackHawk Pistol. He just created suspicion on Egan to take the heat away from himself.

Dave’s life has never returned to normal after being terrorized by law enforcement in 2011. Having his front door bashed in, guns drawn on him while he was thrown down on the floor, handcuffed and hauled off to jail even after they tore his home apart, boxed up everything of value over several hours and hauled it off when they should have stopped because there was no allegedly stolen BlackHawk Pistol to be found.

It would be something if law enforcement actually investigated the drive-by shooting by questioning other neighbors to see if they had any of their windows shot up. One of Dave’s neighbors already checked and no one else had their house fired upon.

Then, is it logical to assume that Dave Egan was the target? Will someone question officers to find out if any of them were riding around in the wee hours of Sunday morning, December 17th in Egan’s neighborhood?

Will the Sheriff’s department live up to their motto “To Serve and Protect?” And, will they protect Dave, or if something suspicious crops up will they protect their own?

Drive by shootings is the stuff of South Central Los Angeles connected to gangs… not Crescent City/Del Norte County. This must be nipped in the bud.