BORDERLAND

Man guilty of trying to shoot city officers

11/23/2013

A former Toledo man was found guilty Friday of two counts of felonious assault with firearms specifications for attempting to shoot two Toledo police officers in 2011.

Norman Conner, 32, of Columbus, who is serving an eight-year sentence for a federal firearms violation, was acquitted on a third count of felonious assault by visiting Judge Charles Wittenberg. The judge announced his verdicts after a three-day bench trial and just less than three hours of deliberations.

Conner was a passenger in a car driven by Raishaun Williams on Feb. 5, 2011, when police stopped the vehicle and Conner reached for a loaded 9mm handgun under his seat. He fired one round in the direction of Sgt. Daniel Raab that struck Mr. Williams in the leg, and, during a struggle outside the car, fired another round that nearly struck Officer Ward Lemke.

Conner, who took the stand in his defense Friday, claimed his finger was never on the trigger, “so I didn’t intentionally make the gun go off.”

Conner, who is to be sentenced at 11 a.m. Wednesday, faces three to 11 years in prison for each count of felonious assault and three years for each firearms specification.