Prosecutors have dropped felony charges against a Santa Fe chef and restaurant owner who was accused last month of shooting a man with a pellet gun outside his business.

Steve Lemon had faced felony charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and tampering with evidence after Santa Fe police alleged he had fired plastic pellets at a man who was digging through a dumpster one morning outside his downtown Italian restaurant, Pranzo.

Lemon said at the time he was frustrated by a series of thefts and vandalism at Pranzo — with mounting costs for the business — and a lack of action by police. His arrest created a buzz on social media, with many other business owners expressing support for him and voicing their own frustrations about rising rates of some types of crime across the city.



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