Kehoe Was Pointing Gun At Him, Ohio Trooper Says Officer Testifies He Heard Shots And Then Was Hit By Flying Glass

A state Highway Patrol trooper testified Thursday that he heard shots, felt flying glass hit his shoulder, then saw Cheyne Kehoe pointing a gun at him.

The trooper was involved in a videotaped gunfire exchange that was broadcast nationally.

“I saw a semiautomatic handgun in the hand of the subject who was a passenger and it was pointed toward me,” Trooper John Harold Harker said during Kehoe’s trial.

Kehoe is charged with trying to kill Harker and another police officer, Clinton County sheriff’s Deputy Robert Gates.

Police said Cheyne’s brother, Chevie, was driving the 1977 Chevrolet Suburban when Harker stopped the vehicle near this southwestern Ohio town on Feb. 15. Harker said the car had expired Washington state license plates.

Harker testified as the prosecution began its presentation against Cheyne Kehoe, 21, of Colville, Wash. Kehoe is charged with attempted murder, felonious assault and carrying a concealed weapon. Chevie Kehoe, 24, also of Colville, faces a separate trial next month on similar charges.

A dashboard camera in Harker’s police cruiser videotaped the gunfire exchange. Prosecutors played the videotape for the jury Thursday.

Harker said Chevie Kehoe refused to give Harker a driver’s license or other identification.

While the two were arguing, Chevie Kehoe attempted to get out of the vehicle and use the door to pin the trooper to the car, Harker testified.

At that point, Harker said he simultaneously heard shots and glass breaking. He said he felt the glass hit his shoulder.

Harker said when he took a shower later at home, he found shards of glass in his ear.

Clinton County Prosecutor William Peelle said the videotape shows that Cheyne Kehoe drew his gun first, shot from inside the car almost point-blank at Harker and continued to shoot at Harker and Gates after leaping out of the car.

But defense lawyer Jeffrey Hoskins said Kehoe pulled his gun only after Gates drew his weapon, did not fire from inside the car and fired outside only to escape in safety.

Hoskins said Kehoe plans to testify that he drew his gun only after being threatened by the deputy.

Police said the Kehoes then fled the scene before Chevie Kehoe allegedly fired at Wilmington police officers during another exchange minutes later.

None of the officers was hurt in either exchange.

Cheyne Kehoe surrendered in Washington state in June and told authorities where to find his brother in Utah.

A federal grand jury in Little Rock, Ark., indicted Chevie Kehoe and two other men last month on charges they planned to revolt against the U.S. government and create the Aryan Peoples Republic, where citizenship would be limited to certain white people.