A 26-year-old man will be in Clark County Municipal Court on Tuesday morning to answer to charges accusing him of randomly discharging a firearm Monday evening while driving his pickup truck along Sintz Road.

Joseph P. Hixon told county sheriff’s deputies he did indeed fire a 9mm Ruger handgun at a metal barrel he saw on the side of the roadway “because he was bored.”

Deputies were dispatched after the sheriff’s communications center received a 911 call at about 6:51 p.m. reporting that shots had been fired from a passing gold pickup truck in the 3600 block of Sintz Road, according to the sheriff’s office in a release sent to media late Monday night.

The caller told deputies he wasn’t sure whether the man in the truck was firing randomly or firing at the house in the area.

The suspect vehicle pulled into a driveway at 3933 Sintz and a deputy pulled him after the vehicle.

According to the sheriff’s office, the driver acknowledged that he did have a firearm in his truck.  Deputies were given permission to search it and located the loaded Ruger until the driver’s seat, a spent casing in a compartment on the driver’s door and two more spent casings in the front left pocket of the suspect’s sweatshirt.

During an interview with investigators, the suspect admitted discharging his handgun in an attempt to hit a metal barrel on the side of the roadway, according to the sheriff’s office. He also acknowledged that he was unaware if anyone was in the wooded area he fired into and was unsure who owned the property that he fired upon.

When asked the reason for discharging his firearm, he replied “that he was bored.”

Hixon was detained at the Clark County Jail on single felony counts of improper handling of a firearm and discharging a firearm on a prohibited premises - for firing across a public roadway.