WARSAW — A Warsaw man who fired shots at police in February 2017, was sentenced to 17 and a half years behind bars on Tuesday, July 17.

Daniel S. Vanderpool

Daniel S. Vanderpool, 56, 2204 Dubois Drive, Warsaw, was initially charged with attempted murder, criminal recklessness and attempted voluntary manslaughter in a Feb. 19, 2017 incident where he fired shots at Warsaw police from inside his home.

On April 23 in Kosciusko County Circuit Court, Vanderpool entered a plea of guilty to attempted voluntary manslaughter, a level 2 felony.

Vanderpool was accused of firing shots at Warsaw police officer Gordon Allen after police responded to reports of residential alarms. According to police, Vanderpool was intoxicated and under the influence of several medications and had become agitated with his own home’s alarm system. When police responded to his home, Vanderpool fired shots from inside his house at the officers. Police attempted to negotiate with Vanderpool but eventually took him into custody after using tear gas inside the home.

Vanderpool took the stand and told the court that he had been battling depression and anxiety since 1998 and was prescribed medication for both. He said that on the night of the incident, he began to drink a large quantity of vodka before taking his medication.

“It’s difficult to explain without sounding like an excuse,” Vanderpool said. The defendant told the court that his mother had been ill, which caused him to have trouble sleeping. He said he drank the vodka as a sleep aid.

“My plan was to pass out and get some sleep,” he said. “I do remember waking up to the alarm going off and not being able to shut it off.”

As for the events that followed, Vanderpool said details are fuzzy, at best. “I don’t honestly recall very much of that,” he said. “I don’t drink like that. It was a very large quantity of vodka.”

Vanderpool addressed Allen, who was sitting at the table next to Prosecutor Dan Hampton. “I am so sorry,” he said. “It makes me sick and I owe an apology to all the police officers who were there.”

Hampton cross-examined Vanderpool and acknowledged that he and the defendant had known each other since they were in school together. “You can probably understand my surprise that night when I got the call about what was happening at your house. Would you agree that you created this situation?”

Vanderpool agreed.

Hampton said that despite his acquaintance with Vanderpool, he was bound by his job to protect the community.

Circuit Court Judge Michael Reed applauded the restraint used by local police to take Vanderpool alive during the incident, telling Vanderpool that he was thankful not only for Allen still being alive but also the defendant. He also acknowledged Vanderpool’s spotless record but said it would ultimately be outweighed by the seriousness of the crime.

“There’s days when this is a really bad job,” said Reed. “I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. This is your first offense, I get it. But using the [influence of] drugs and alcohol as an excuse, I can’t allow that to happen.”

Reed ordered seven and a half years of Vanderpool’s sentence to be suspended and served on probation. His 10 years to serve will be shortened at least by 57 days, which Hampton said is the length of his jail time credit.

Vanderpool’s attorney, Matthew Buehler, said the stark contrast between Vanderpool’s everyday character and the actions on Feb. 19, 2017, are worthy of note.

“I don’t recognize the man described in the probable cause affidavit,” said Buehler. “I’ve been at this awhile and this is the most out of left field case I’ve ever seen.”