An Orange County man was sentenced to nine years in prison on Monday over an alcohol-fueled disturbance during which he fired an entire rifle magazine of bullets inside his home — causing his family to flee — and additional rounds at a Sheriff’s Department helicopter from his second-story window.
Justin Derek Jennings, 41, of Laguna Niguel was sentenced to 108 months in federal prison in connection to the incident on his birthday in 2024. He had pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to damage, destroy, disable or wreck an aircraft, the Justice Department said in a news release.
Jennings was having a birthday party with family that day, according to court documents. He drank 2 quarts of Jack Daniel’s at the party, according to the defendant’s lawyer and reporting by City News Service. Jennings later removed a rifle from his gun safe and opened fire inside the home, prompting his family to flee and report the incident to law enforcement, court documents say.
At the sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge John W. Holcomb, attended by several of his family members, Jennings admitted that his struggles with alcoholism contributed to his actions that day.
“I have a serious alcohol abuse problem,’’ Jennings said, according to City News Service. “I let it completely upend my life.”
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department responded to the shooting with several deputies and a helicopter that circled Jennings’ home. He fired at the helicopter from the second-story window “only when the helicopter was visible to him,” according to prosecutors. The shooting lasted intermittently for an additional 20 minutes after authorities arrived, the Justice Department said.
“This is a serious offense involving violent and disturbing conduct that endangered many lives,” prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum. Jennings “repeatedly shot at an OCSD helicopter from a second-story window with the goal of shooting it down.”
In a search of Jennings’ home after his arrest, authorities found multiple firearms, rifles and dozens of rounds of ammunition. Bullet casings and additional rounds of unspent ammunition were littered on the floor beneath the window and a couch near where Jennings had fired from, authorities said.
The Orange County district attorney’s office had originally charged Jennings in connection to the shooting but dismissed the case to allow for the federal case to proceed, according to the Justice Department.