Bristol man arrested after firing gun during domestic dispute

Suspect came home and found his wife and another man inside their house

Posted 12/1/21

Bristol police officers surrounded a house on Sunnyside Avenue Monday afternoon and peacefully took into custody a man accused of firing a gun while confronting his wife and another man inside their …

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Bristol man arrested after firing gun during domestic dispute

Suspect came home and found his wife and another man inside their house

Posted

Bristol police officers surrounded a house on Sunnyside Avenue Monday afternoon and peacefully took into custody a man accused of firing a gun while confronting his wife and another man inside their home.

The incident began when 32-year-old Stephen Wallace came home from work in the middle of the day and confronted his wife and a stranger inside the residence at 8 Sunnyside Ave. According to Bristol Police Major Brian Burke, Wallace became very upset, retrieved a handgun from inside the home, and pointed it at his wife and the other man while ordering them to leave.

Wallace then allegedly pointed the gun in a different direction, fired it, and then pointed it back at the two of them and told them to leave. They did. Neither was harmed.

About an hour later, at 1:20 p.m., the woman went to the Bristol police station and told officers what had happened. Minutes later, a contingent of 10 officers arrived at the home and secured the perimeter. One of them called Wallace on the phone, and he agreed to come outside and cooperate. He was arrested without incident.

Officers searched the residence and found four guns and boxes of ammunition. They seized a 9mm Glock semi-automatic pistol, a Sig Sauer semi-automatic pistol, an M4 assault style rifle, an X15 assault style rifle, 12 rifle magazines and seven pistol magazines. Wallace was charged with two counts of discharge of a firearm when committing a crime of violence, assault with a deadly weapon, domestic assault with a deadly weapon, domestic disorderly conduct, and firing in a compact area.

After he was processed at the station, Wallace appeared before a justice of the peace, who set surety bail at $100,000 (requiring $10,000 cash to be released). Unable to make bail at that time, Wallace was taken to the ACI and held. He was issued no-contact orders with both victims.

Police Chief Kevin Lynch praised the swift actions of responding officers to quickly engage Wallace and convince him to cooperate and turn himself in. Two weeks ago, Bristol officers engaged in a tense standoff with another suspect after he had fired a gun in the middle of the night on Wood Street.

“This could have turned into another barricade situation, had it not been for the quick, professional response of the officers,” Chief Lynch said.

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A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.