00:00A tourist in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, faces a couple of criminal charges after firing his gun six times at a bear outside the door of his motel room last Thursday night.
00:12Gregory Sapp was cited for illegal discharge of a firearm and reckless endangerment.
00:20Police said Sapp claimed the bear was outside his room on the second floor breezeway of the Motel 6.
00:25Dude, I'm just trying to get some ice.
00:26Uh, Sapp was not injured. Officers with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency were unable to find the bear on Friday.
00:32They did not know how many shots hit the animal. It is unknown if the bear is dead or alive.
00:36Was there in fact a bear?
00:37A neighbor, Anthony Gunter, said, I had heard several shots ring out.
00:41It turns out this fellow was shooting at a black bear that he claimed tried to attack him and his wife.
00:46He exclaimed that it was a three or four hundred pound bear, which is the exact size of that bear that's been in our neighborhood for a while.
00:53Well, it's a big bear. But like I said, I've never had a problem with that bear.
00:57Sounds like that there hotel bear we've been hearing about.
01:00He said it just goes about its business.
01:02Oh, he's a big fella.
01:03He said he was a really, I'm quoting you, he was a really friendly bear.
01:07Uh, he would just walk over here, leave us alone, go over there.
01:12I hope he's alive, he says.
01:13Let me describe what he would do. He'd be over over there and then he'd be over there.
01:22I never saw him over there, though.
01:25But he was over there?
01:27I don't recollect.
01:29But he was definitely there and there.
01:31Yeah, four times.
01:33Well, two times there and two times there.
01:35I keep a diary.
01:37That's that book that says there on it.
01:40That's the name of the diary?
01:41Yeah.
01:42It's the bear over there.
01:44That bear over there.
01:46Police said they're still investigating the case.
01:48The Motel 6 has several cameras visible on the exterior of the building and the breezeways.
01:53We'll leave the bear on for you.
01:54Neighbors said they take a wait-and-see approach on whether the animal was aggressive toward the motel guest,
02:00but they admit that the animals roamed the breezeway of the motels.
02:04No reason to be afraid. The bear was over there.
02:06He said those bears will go up and down them ramps of these hotels searching for food, you know, whatever they can find.
02:15If the bear was truly aggressive and threatening, the man may be justified for shooting in self-defense.
02:19But you are not allowed to shoot a bear just because it's close to you.
02:22Just because it's there.
02:23Yeah.
02:23Where was he?
02:25There.
02:26Firing a weapon should only be used as a last resort when there is no other escape option, according to them.
02:33I don't know how fond I would be of a hotel where there was a robust bear population.
02:38On the second floor.
02:39On the second floor.
02:40He was able to make it up there.
02:41Yeah.
02:42I don't know.
02:42Without a key.
02:43Without a key.
02:43Without a key.
02:45I don't know.
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