PORT CHARLOTTE — In two separate instances this week, deputies arrested a person for allegedly disturbing school functions while intoxicated.
One suspect is charged with firing a gun at a speeding sign near L.A. Ainger Middle School in Rotonda West on Thursday. The other is suspected to have breached safety by driving drunk in the pick-up line for Family Christian Academy in Port Charlotte on Wednesday.
Ralph Michael Biernat, 67, is the suspect in the Thursday shooting near Ainger.
According to his arrest report, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office received a call reporting shots fired near the middle school around 2:48 p.m., near the end of the school day.
Witnesses told 911 dispatchers they had seen a man in a pink robe shooting at a speeding sign before driving away. The school was placed into a precautionary lockdown.
Deputies checked the area and reported two bullet holes through the electronic control board for a speed enforcement trailer — one where the bullet went through fully, the other with the bullet still in the sign.