Police in Porter County, Indiana have finally detained a man suspected of a months-long string of BB gun shootings throughout the area.
Dennis Ditterline admitted to a spree of 75 shootings that left dozens of cars, homes and buildings in the area damaged, according to Fox Chicago. And police have no reason to believe that he's lying: "He had working knowledge of what had taken place," Valparaiso Police Department Detective Sgt. Jeff Balon said.
A Valparaiso, IN man was instrumental in hunting down Ditterline. He awoke one morning to a loud bang, and looked out the window in time to catch the license plates of Ditterline's car, which led authorities to the suspect. Surveillance footage from a Wal-mart also helped police identify him as the BB shooter, according to the Chesterton Tribune.
That paper also describes Ditterline's confessed motive:
When asked the reason for the spree, Ditterline told investigators that he was "out of work" and had "health issues," that he was "frustrated with life," and that shooting at cars was a kind of "stress relief," Sgt. Mike Grennes of the VPD told the Chesterton Tribune today.
"He said he felt better after he did it," Grennes said.
According to the Associated Press, he will face charges of criminal recklessness for shooting at occupied vehicles. That charge is a Class D felony.
He is not responsible, he claims, for separate BB gun shootings targeting school buses in the Crown Point, Indiana area earlier this year.