San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Clifford Cretan today sentenced a 38-year-old San Bruno man who shot three teenagers with a BB gun last year to four months in county jail on charges of felony assault with a deadly weapon, a chief deputy district attorney said.

John Reindel pleaded no contest May 12 and faced up to a year in county jail for the felony assault charges.

Reindel was charged after an incident on Sept. 2, 2007, when he joined in a water balloon fight with his 13-year-old neighbor and the neighbor's friends, Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.

The three boys were apparently having a water balloon fight in the yard and making noise when Reindel came out to investigate, Wagstaffe said. 

According to the boys' statements, Reindel joined in the fun first, but then unexpectedly pulled out a BB gun and began firing, striking all three boys multiple times, Wagstaffe said.

One ran inside and called police. When officers arrived, Reindel was identified by the boys and arrested, Wagstaffe said.

Reindel stated that he was just trying to shoot the water balloons, and that he had really bad aim. None of the boys was seriously injured in the shooting.

In addition to the four months' county jail time, Judge Cretan sentenced Reindel to three years' probation and ordered him to pay restitution in an amount to be determined by the probation department, Wagstaffe said. — Bay City News