Sturgeon woman accused of pointing loaded crossbow at children

STURGEON, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Sturgeon woman was arrested Tuesday for allegedly pointing a loaded crossbow at several children while yelling that she planned to kill one of the children's dogs.

The Boone County Sheriff's Department suspects 37-year-old Rachel Linder did not want the dog in her yard. Deputies later determined that the dog was not menacing or damaging property.

Several children were close enough to be in harm's way of the loaded crossbow, investigators say.

Lauren Leible a mother of one of the children says, "she came out on her porch with a bow and arrow and pointed it towards my porch where my child and my neighbor's children were."

Leible says that Linder has been nice to her dog in the past so she isn't sure why she would threaten to kill him.

"She used to pet him and play with him, she's chased after him a couple of times but I don't know what changed, to just blatantly I'm gonna shoot your dog," Leible said.

Linder told Boone County Deputies that Leible does not handle the dog properly.

During the investigation, deputies say Linder admitted that she loaded the crossbow and was planning to shoot the dog if it came back to her yard.

"She took the weapon back inside and then came back out with it, Leible says, and set it next to her on the porch and then sat down with it and the cops showed up."

Leible says she contacted the owner of the mobile home park where the incident happened but was told that there is nothing that they can do.

Linder was charged Wednesday with one count of unlawful use of a weapon and three counts of endangering the welfare of children. A judge denied bond and she remained Wednesday in the Boone County Jail.

No lawyer was listed for Linder in online court records.