Bail reduced for man who shot into ceiling

Bail was reduced Wednesday for a Carson City diabetic who said he fired several shots into his ceiling early Tuesday morning in a bid to get help and in the process shot his sleeping neighbor.

During an arraignment for Richard Stanley Lanave Sr., Assistant District Attorney Gerald Gardner asked Judge Robey Willis to reduce Lanave's $30,000 bail to $5,000 " a standard bail on a charge of discharging a firearm into a structure, he said.

Lanave, jailed on suspicion of 13 felony counts of discharging a firearm into a structure and 13 misdemeanor counts of discharging a firearm in the city limits, appeared at the hearing via close-circuit television from the jail one day before his 70th birthday.

"I am here to say that I am quite certain that the state is not going to proceed on charges of battery with a deadly weapon," said Gardner.

Lanave was arrested Tuesday morning following an hour-long "standoff" after he fired 13 shots into the ceiling and window of his Imperial Way apartment. Two of the bullets struck Brian Kennedy, 25, asleep in the upstairs apartment with his girlfriend next to him and his 3-month-old son in a crib just three feet away.

Through a bullhorn, officers ordered Lanave to come out with his hands up, but the former California attorney claimed he was too weak to move because his blood sugar was dangerously low. That is why he fired the shots in the first place. He found himself on the floor in his room and he was calling for help, a Carson City Sheriff's investigator said.

Following the incident, a checkup at the hospital revealed Lanave's blood sugar level at 37. Anything under 40 and a patient is at risk of coma and death, according to the American Diabetes Association.

Gardner had not yet filed charges against Lanave and asked Willis for more time than the standard 72 hours from the time of the arrest.

"We believe we need to carefully review Mr. Lanave's medical records from this incident before we can make a charging decision in this case," said Gardner.

"It appears that there is at least an allegation of a medical issue in this case, and that Mr. Lanave was suffering from an insulin or diabetic incident that may have caused him to not have the full capacity to know the nature of his actions."

Judge Willis agreed to the bail reduction.

"It doesn't appear as though you were trying to do anything but try to save your life, but at the same time somebody else was at least injured on this matter," he said.

Willis admonished Lanave that as a condition of his release, he must not contact Kennedy.

"I know you're probably beating yourself up terribly over this," said Willis. "But at the same time I don't think the alleged victim would want any contact."

Kennedy was treated and released from the hospital later the same morning. Detective Dena Lacy said the young father is unable to work and the family is concerned about how they will pay their bills.

"I do feel badly. I would like to take care of the gentleman's medical and pain and suffering," Lanave said, asking that he be made responsible for those expenses in any settlement of the case.

Willis also recommended alternatives should Lanave find himself alone and injured again.

"There are several things that you can do, Mr. Lanave ... such as Lifeline and Life Alert. Do you know those?" Willis asked.

"No, your honor," said Lanave.

"They have a small box you put around your neck and if there's any problems " rather than shoot off a gun " you punch that and it gets to 911. We also have at the Sheriff's Office a program called 'Are you OK?' ... So if there's a problem like this, there's somebody who is going to look in on you.

"Those are the kinds of things that would be good for you to look into, Mr. Lanave, so we don't run into this in the future."

- Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.