Officials: Fisherman shoots away competition

updated 7:53 p.m. ET May 23, 2007

GREENSBORO, Georgia - An 86-year-old Georgia man did not want anyone getting too close to his fishing lines, so he took a few shots at a pair of fishermen competing at a tournament, authorities said. One of them was hit in the arm.

John Burke Yearwood was jailed on a charge of aggravated assault and later released on bond.

Greene County Sheriff Chris Houston said Yearwood has been putting his fishing lines out in the area for decades.

Two men competing in a fishing tournament Saturday on the Oconee River told authorities that when they got close to Yearwood's lines, Yearwood raised a rifle and fired two shots that hit the water in front of their boat. A sheriff's department report says Yearwood — who was at a fishing camp but was not in the tournament — fired a third shot that hit Craig Barnett as he sat in the boat.

The men said they sped away in the boat and used a cell phone to call authorities.

The sheriff's report says Barnett sustained a wound under his left arm and gave authorities a small-caliber bullet that he says went into his arm.

Investigators found Yearwood at his home.

"He was just trying to warn (them) away from the fishing lines," Houston said Tuesday.

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