By ART BUKOWSKI
abukowski@record-eagle.
January 01, 2009 12:00 am BEULAH -- A Benzie County man faces a host of criminal charges after police said he tried to shoot his wife. Departing Benzie Prosecutor Anthony Cicchelli on Wednesday charged Robert E. Lovegrove with assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, using a firearm during a felony, discharge of a firearm in a building and domestic violence. Sheriff's deputies arrested Lovegrove, 58, after a Tuesday incident at his Elberta home. Police went to the house at about 11:30 p.m. on a report of shots fired inside the house. Deputies found the man's wife and her adult daughter uninjured and led them outside, Benzie County Sheriff Rory Heckman said. Lovegrove, who was in the basement when police arrived, surrendered without a struggle, Heckman said. Lovegrove's wife came home from work a short time before the incident and began to argue with him, Heckman said. Lovegrove allegedly had been drinking, and at some point during the altercation police believe he grabbed a 9mm handgun and fired a single shot at his wife as they argued in the home's main room. "He grabbed his gun and said, 'I'll take care of this right now,'" Heckman said. The woman wasn't injured, Heckman said, though the shot narrowly missed her. Lovegrove doesn't have a criminal history, Heckman said. Police believe the incident could have been much worse. "It's always lucky whenever shots are fired and nobody's injured," Heckman said. Magistrate Hope Cicansky set Lovegrove's bond at 10 percent of $200,000, and he remained in jail Wednesday afternoon. A preliminary examination will be set for mid-January.
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Robert Lovegrove