A Halfway-area man accused of sending a barrage of bullets toward a trio of law enforcement officers was ordered to face attempted murder and other charges following a preliminary hearing Tuesday.

Washington County District Court Judge Victoria J. Lobley found probable cause for Gerald Wayne Koogle Jr. to face further court action after hearing testimony that deputies were near the hail of bullets that also pierced a neighbor's home and defense arguments that the shooting was not premeditated.

Koogle, 42, is charged with three counts each of attempted first- and second-degree murder and first-degree assault on three Washington County Sheriff's Office deputies. He is also charged with reckless endangerment, malicious destruction of property valued at more than $1,000 and a weapons violation, court records show.

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Detective Kevin Klappert testified that deputies were called to Koogle's darkened doublewide mobile home on Longfellow Court on June 3 to investigate a report of a 911 hangup call by a woman who said she was being threatened.

They knocked at the front door and got no response, so they went to a side door next to a window where they heard a male voice yelling. The deputies gave the male commands to answer the door, Klappert testified.

The voice then said, "I've got something for you (expletive)," and "Get the (expletive) out of here," he testified.

Semi-automatic gunfire then came through the window "a matter of feet and inches" from the deputies, who scattered in different directions, Klappert testified.

A woman who said she was Koogle's girlfriend later emerged and said that Koogle was doing the shooting and that his father and his father's girlfriend were also in the home at the time. All were able to get outside, Klappert testified.

A negotiator communicated by cellphone with Koogle, who eventually surrendered and was taken into custody, according to Klappert's testimony.

Police found bullet holes in a neighbor's mobile home and damage to the home's contents, Klappert testified.

During a search of Koogle's home, police found an AR-15-style rifle with an 8-inch barrel and 23 spent 300 blackout caliber shell casings, he testified. The charging document filed against Koogle states that police found the shell casings under his bedroom window and recovered a total of 26 firearms from inside the residence.

Under cross-examination by Assistant Public Defender Sean Mukherjee, Klappert testified that a SWAT team was being assembled at the time Koogle surrendered.

He testified that Koogle's girlfriend said they had both been drinking and were arguing about relationship issues at the time. Klappert acknowledged in response to Mukherjee's questions that no one was struck by the gunfire or injured.

When asked if Koogle had shown hostility toward the deputies, Klappert pointed to his statements before the gunfire erupted. He said that the negotiator who spoke to Koogle on the phone described him as initially angry, then remorseful.

In response to Mukherjee's questions, Klappert testified that no shots were directed at police cars, and no one was held hostage.

Mukherjee acknowledged that prosecutors might have probable cause to bring a first- or second-degree assault charge, but argued that Koogle would have had to take deliberate, substantial steps with malice for a charge of attempted first- and second-degree murder to be valid.

He argued that there was no testimony that the deputies identified themselves as police officers or that Koogle specifically targeted them. He noted that Koogle fired through a window and didn't know where the deputies were.

"He was not lying in wait for the officers," Mukherjee argued.

He acknowledged that Koogle committed a reckless act, but argued that it didn't meet the standard of attempted, premeditated murder.

He asked Lobley to dismiss the attempted first- and second-degree murder charges.

"We believe that this is a clear overcharge," Mukherjee said.

Assistant State's Attorney Christina Palmer argued that premeditated intent does not require someone to be lying in wait and can be formed after the first shot is fired.

"It can be formed in a second," she said, arguing that the state had met its burden to show probable cause on all charges.

Lobley agreed, recapping the series of events and noting that all the shots went outside the home toward the deputies and that the shots were fired seconds after the voice yelled at them to leave.

"I find that that is intent," said.

Neighbor Vicki Campbell attended the hearing and told a reporter beforehand that she was asleep in her bedroom when a bullet ricocheted off the doorframe into her chest of drawers.

"It sounded like bombs going off in my house," she said.

Campbell said she counted 29 bullet holes in her home including one in her bathtub.

In the charging document filed against Koogle, police noted that Campbell called 911 and took cover behind her refrigerator.

A date for Koogle's next court appearance was not set Wednesday morning, online court records show.