By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
A police station or sheriff's office may not be the best place to brandish a firearm. But Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir said an incident in his office on Oct. 27 was not necessarily out of the ordinary. Twenty-eight-year-old Lee Shelton Leon, however, was arrested on requested charges of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault, and other charges after walking into the sheriff's office with an air rifle.
"That in and of itself was not that unusual," Bellendir said. "We get guns coming in and out of the office all the time. People want us to look at something or check something, or want to know what to do about something. We seem them fairly frequently."
Leon had been served a protection from abuse order earlier in the day. Sheriff's office staff noticed an agitated man holding a rifle walking toward the building. Bellendir was not present at the time, but Undersheriff Steve Billinger was.
"The undersheriff got up from his desk - it was just around the corner," said Bellendir. "He stepped out in the lobby. From what I understand, as soon as the guy came in, he got ahold of the rifle and took it away from him."
No one was injured during the incident, and the gun was determined to be an air rifle. Leon's bond was set at $50,000 for the multiple charges.