Man held for nightly nuisance

Towson, Maryland: A well-off retired businessman accused of creating loud bangs and flashes in the middle of the night because he was "mad at his neighbours" was ordered held without bail on Wednesday by a judge who expressed concern about the suspect "blowing up the neighbourhood".

The bail for Frederick Lee Mackler, 59, of Pikesville, had been set at $1 million (Dh3.67 million) after his arrest on Tuesday, but Baltimore County District Court Judge Norman R. Stone III revoked it during a hearing on Wednesday in Towson.

The judge noted that the police had found 12 handguns, an Uzi submachine gun, a .223-caliber rifle, two shotguns and 200 rounds of pyrotechnic devices - as well as cocaine and marijuana - in Mackler's apartment.

"The public safety risk is too high," the judge said as he ordered Mackler to remain in custody.

Mackler's lawyer, Richard C.B. Woods, said his client had been "chronically depressed and self-medicating," and that his relatives were anxious to have him treated for substance abuse.

"I'm not a psychiatrist, but I believe this was a cry for help," Woods said. He urged the judge to release his client into the custody of his brother, Steve Mackler, and his wife, Eileen, "while we sort all this out".

In court documents, Mackler is quoted as telling police that he would wake up at night "and fire shots out of his fourth-floor window" and then go back to bed.

Woods told the court the noise and flashes came from a "bird-banger" - a device used by farmers to keep birds and animals from crops. It requires a permit from the federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agency.

- Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service