MARYSVILLE — A 46-year-old Marysville man was booked into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of two counts of first-degree assault, after allegedly firing a rifle in the direction of two teenage boys and chasing after them on Sunday, April 8. On Tuesday, April 10, an Everett District Court judge set the man’s bail at $25,000.

The boys told police that the man came out of a house in the 8100 block of 47th Ave. NE when they were walking by, and began yelling and running after them. Although only one of the boys claimed to have seen the man carrying a rifle, both boys reported hearing a gunshot.

One neighbor described what seemed like a firework near her home, while another neighbor heard what he described as “a whisping sound” through the trees bordering his yard, before he saw two boys running and trying to hide in trees near his yard. The neighbor called 911 around 10:15 p.m. after the boys told him that a man had pulled a gun on them, and told police that both boys appeared to be frightened.

According to court papers, the 46-year-old Marysville man gave conflicting stories. He first told police that he was a recent burglary victim who had installed a motion detector in his yard, and had chased the boys believing that they were trying to break into his vehicle. When police asked him about his rifle, which he hadn’t mentioned up to that point, the man then said that he couldn’t remember whether he’d grabbed a rifle, before telling them that he might have fired two rounds into the grass in front of his house before calling 911.

In a 911 call allegedly made by the suspect, he told the dispatcher that he had chased someone whom he’d thought had tried to break into his car, before returning to his house to call 911, and also reported hearing a “bang” during the chase.