Oak Harbor man accused of shooting boys with a BB gun

Houchin pleads not guilty to two counts of third-degree assault

“A 20-year-old Oak Harbor guy might end up in jail for allegedly using some pretty poor judgement in playing with a group of neighborhood boys a couple of weeks ago.Last Friday, George Houchin pleaded not guilty to two counts of third-degree assault in Island County Superior Court.Houchin is accused of shooting at a group of 10-year-old boys with a BB gun, hitting two of them. One boy was injured badly enough that paramedics brought him to the hospital for observation.Island County Deputy Mark Plumberg in his report on the incident that the boys were playing together at a home on Garfield Court. They did some target practicing with a Daisy pump BB gun in one of the boy’s backyard, then went to see a neighbor – Houchin.According to the story the boys told Plumberg, Houchin took the air rifle, said you better run and then started shooting at the fleeing boys. One of the shots hit a boy in the abdomen, going through his shirt and drawing blood. Another hit another boy in the shoulder, causing an abrasion.Plumberg said that Houchin admitting shooting the BB gun at the boys, but said he didn’t mean to hurt anyone. Houchin told him that we used to play like that all the time when I was a kid, Plumberg wrote. “