A St. Croix County man is charged with recklessly endangering safety and negligent handling of a weapon — and the weapon in question is a homemade cannon which he allegedly used to fire bowling balls and bowling pins. A Twin Cities television station reports that one of the bowling balls went through a neighbor’s barn, and that the owner found a 10-month-old horse dead from a head injury.
According to court records, 65-year-old Ricky Thorne of Spring Valley is scheduled to make a preliminary appearance on the charges on May 4th. Fox 9 reports that Kroll had brought the homemade cannon to his brother’s home south of New Richmond, for a 4th of July celebration. Kroll admitted to law enforcement that he shot 10 bowling balls and 10 bowling pins out of the cannon, and was sorry that they made it to the neighbor’s property nearly half a mile away.
The neighbor, Lisa Kroll, said several of the balls and pins landed on her property, and that she had guests sleeping in camper trailers outside her barn. Kroll said the horse was worth $10,000 and damage to the barn was estimated at $4,000.