Virginia Man Gets Prison Sentence in Accidental Shooting

Local news
A Galesburg man who admitted to committing an accident shooting in November of 2013 will spend some time in prison for the crime. Knox County Circuit Court records indicate 22-year-old Jared Yard was sentenced yesterday to three years in the Illinois Department of Corrections after pleading guilty in November to a count of Reckless Discharge of a Firearm, and three-and-a-half years in prison to a charge of Possession of a Firearm by a Felon. Judge Scott Shipplett ordered the the sentences to be served concurrently. Yard was arrested not long after the incident in the one-hundred block of Silver Street.  Police say Yard and a 21-year-old friend were sitting in a pickup truck when he started displaying a sawed-off shotgun. Yard claims he accidentally shot the friend in the leg.The victim was later taken to a Peoria Hospital and had surgery. A charge of Aggravated Battery with a Firearm was dropped in exchange for Yard’s plea, which could have resulted in significantly more prison time. Actually, his prison sentence was for being a felon in possession, not for the accidental shooting. As everyone knows, very few accidental shootings result in jail time.