City Hall Shooter Pleads Guilty

Muskingum County- A Zanesville man angry his water was turned off plead guilty to several charges after firing three shots into the water department clerk’s office at City Hall in December 2024.

The Muskingum County Prosecutor’s Office said Patrick Foraker entered a plea to three counts of felonious assault with a firearm, one count for each shot fired at the building and including the occupants in the potential path of the bullets and one count of inducing panic.

He could face a prison sentence of 31 and a half years. He will be sentenced by Judge Kelly Cottrill at a later date. Authorities said on December 12, 2024 Foraker fired the shots into the clerk’s window.

Hearings in March and April 2024 found Foraker didn’t know the wrongfulness of his actions due to a mental defect and wasn’t competent to stand trial and was not capable of assisting in his defense.

The prosecutor’s office said a little more than a year later, following treatment provided by Appalachian Behavioral Health, the defendant was re-evaluated and found to be competent to stand trial.