BAY CITY, MI — The alleged firing of gunshots by an irate 81-year-old man and heavy police presence didn't do much to curb the festivities of a Bay City business's grand opening party.

The get-together at Nelson H. Niederer Custom Woodworking, 1823 Broadway Ave., drew about 30 people the afternoon of Saturday, June 8, Niederer said.

“I had a whole parking lot full of people here, people inside, people outside; I had little kids here,” recalled Niederer. “I was out there barbecuing chicken and I hear ‘Pop, pop.’ It didn’t sound loud at all, like you’d expect.”

After the initial popping noise, someone else in the South End neighborhood began lighting fireworks, Niederer said. A few minutes later, a partygoer told Niederer that a man on his porch at 1200 Stanton St., across 32nd Street from the party, was brandishing a gun.

“I said, ‘He’s always got a gun,’” Niederer said. “He’s always walking around with a sidearm or patrolling the streets and sidewalk at night with a spotlight and a shotgun.”

Niederer told his guests that the man, Richard J. O’Hara, was within his rights and was on his own property.

“I was getting along good with the guy,” Niederer said. “He’s been over here to my shop. I was getting ready to take him over a plate of chicken, some potato salad, some beans and stuff and they said, ‘No, he’s shooting it.’”

Niederer walked over to O’Hara’s porch to speak with the man, who was angry over the fact that a 2012 Chevrolet Malibu owned by Niederer’s cousin was parked on 32nd Street. Court records indicate O’Hara later told police he believes his property extends 7 feet into 32nd Street.

Niederer tried telling O’Hara that the Malibu was legally parked, but O’Hara was not receptive, Niederer said.

“I said, ‘Dick, is this really necessary? Put the gun away and go back in your house. Nobody needs to get hurt over this,’” Niederer said. O’Hara threatened to shoot the car if it wasn’t moved, and Niederer told him to go ahead, but the police would come and arrest him for it.

Niederer walked back toward his party and called 911. A dispatcher told him police were in his area, he said.

Armored officers soon arrived, surrounded O’Hara’s home and arrested him. Investigators have said O’Hara fired two rounds from a .45-caliber pistol through the front bumper of Niederer’s cousin’s Malibu. Officers recovered two spent casings in his yard and seized multiple firearms, court records show.

One of the rounds was recovered across 32nd Street near where the party was going on, Niederer said. If the bullet hadn’t passed through the bumper, it could have struck one of the children, Niederer said.

After the brouhaha died down, the party kept going with music, food and fun, Niederer said.

“We were playing music and singing,” he said. “We had a good party. It was a good time.”

Richard J. O'Hara

O’Hara is charged with a four-year felony count of assault with a dangerous weapon and misdemeanor counts of malicious destruction of personal property between $200 and $1,000 and brandishing a firearm in public.

Niederer said he has known O’Hara for a few months and considered him eccentric, but harmless. O’Hara’s house displays many political signs and previously had a dummy of President Barack Obama or Osama bin Laden —witnesses' accounts differ — hanging from a rope, Niederer said. A custom sign in O’Hara’s yard reads, “Stop for children. Look.”

As of Wednesday, O’Hara remains in the Bay County Jail on a $25,000 cash-surety bond. Niederer said he doesn’t want to see O’Hara imprisoned.

“Let the old fart out of jail and take away his guns,” he said.

A former chairman of the Tri-City Friends of the NRA, Niederer said he is a firm supporter of citizens’ right to own firearms.

“I’m a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment, but crazy people don’t deserve to have guns,” he said.

Coiene S. Tait, interim Bay City assessor, said O’Hara’s property does not extend 7 feet into 32nd Street.

Bay City Public Safety Lt. Joseph Lanava said police have been called to O’Hara’s place on previous occasions due to him having a makeshift firing range in his basement and neighbors calling to complain.

“He’s not been friendly to us in the past,” Lanava said.

O’Hara is to appear for a preliminary examination at 3 p.m. on Monday, June 24.