Shots Fired At Local Author's Windows

Kyrja Withers was in her office in her brightly colored, easily recognizable home on Washington Street in New Port Richey on Thursday night, March 28, when she heard a “pop, pop.”

She jumped and saw something from the window coming at her, she recalled the next day.

“As it turns out, those were shards of glass,” she said.

She stood up and went outside and saw a vehicle drive away to the north and heard further pops.

There are now holes in three glass panes at the front of the Withers home, called the "Glitter Dome", facing Washington Street. One hole is in the office window. Another is in a glass pane of her front door. The other is in the living room window.      

The New Port Richey Police Department confirmed to Patch that a police call was made about the night’s incidents and that it appears a BB gun was involved.

Withers said she found a BB pellet near the door.

Withers is a practicing pagan and elemental witch. She says she focuses on working with the natural elements to craft magic and live her life.

She is also the author of a series of children’s books called “Rupert’s Tales.” The books follow a bunny named Rupert who learns about pagan holidays.     

She also films videos about Rupert. She was editing one when the incident happened on Thursday.

Because her house is so recognizable, Withers and her husband Randy, who also identifies himself as a witch, are used to drivers stopping by.

But they‘ve recently seen some passersby “disturbing the peace,” says Withers.

There have been several incidents since late December in which someone has laid heavy on their car horn on the street outside the house, Withers said.  

Withers said that the night before the shootings, someone drove to Washington Street near the house, stopped the vehicle and started honking and then shouting obscenities.  She said one of the phrases screamed was "*expletive* witch.”

She said that someone also recently left a comment on a video on her “Friends of Rupert” YouTube channel that contained an expletive and called her a freak. In addition, Withers said her husband received several calls to his cell phone that seemed like prank calls.  

Withers said that “one can not make assumptions” about the reason behind the  incidents she’s witnessed. She hopes it has nothing to do with her faith.

“But all the evidence at this moment points to that,” she said. 

She makes special note of the use of the word “witch” and the comment that was left on her YouTube channel.

“You have to put the dots together,” she said.

She said that this doesn’t just affect her house. It’s an issue that impacts her neighbors, too.

She also has concerns about it impacting the pagan community. She said there are people who are pagan and are afraid of identifying themselves as such to others, and “now they might not come out.”

She said she has some pagan rituals approaching, and that she’s had pagan friends ask if she still wanted to hold them after these incidents. She said her answer is “Yes, I do.” 

She said that if a suspect is identified and apprehended, she would prosecute. But “the ideal outcome” would be for the suspects to be made to do service in the pagan community.  She wants them to be educated to “learn that people are just people.”  

Withers might not get the windows completey repaired for awhile. But she did paint decorations around the holes.

"You always look for some way to make good out of bad," she said. "That's what we do."