LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A family of three was behind bars Saturday night after shooting a 12-gauge shooting rifle to chase off two local British mountain bikers. The two cyclists, who live in the area, were forced off the farm. surrounded by electric fenses, north of St Livres Saturday at 17:00 by a farmer and his son, after the men on mountain bikes strayed onto a clearing that is part of the farm.
The four appear to have argued. The father then shot a gun into the air to frighten them away.
The two visitors, ages 38 and 40, quickly left but phoned police, who then called the farmer and asked him to come into the police station.
He refused and about 20 police showed up at the farm soon after. They spotted an all-terrain vehicle with the 55-year-old farmer, his 49-year-old wife and their 25-year-old son but when they tried to pull them in for questioning, the family resisted.
The police were forced to constrain all three of them before taking them to the station.
The two mountain bikers have pressed charges and police have also charged the father with endangering the lives of others and resisting an officer, and the son with resisting an officer. The son was released Sunday but the father is being held as a preventive measure.
