CCSO: Bullet pierced Golden Gate Estates home; neighbor arrested

A Golden Gate Estates man was arrested Tuesday after he fired a bullet into a neighboring home while shooting a pistol in his backyard in May, detectives said.

William Charles Molloy III, 36, faces a misdemeanor charge of discharging a firearm in public or on a residential property, the Collier County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.

Deputies responded to a home in the 3300 block of 64th Avenue Northeast on May 21 "after a neighbor found a bullet hole in the rear master bedroom and a bullet fragment on the bathroom floor," the release states. Three people were inside the residence at the time of the shooting, detectives said.

Molloy went home for lunch that day, detectives said, and "fired a few rounds from his .40-caliber Springfield Armory pistol into two dirt berms in his backyard."

The home that was struck is behind one of the berms, the release states.

After investigating the incident, detectives requested a warrant in July, said Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Michelle Batten. The warrant was approved Monday, and detectives arrested Molloy on Tuesday morning.

"Typically, these things take a while," Batten said.

The Sheriff's Office in its release said residents should remember that "firing a weapon in a yard is a violation of the law if it is done negligently or recklessly."