Man Arrested After Gun Shot Left Johnny Cash Water Tank With Hilarious Leak

Whether you have one in your town or not, you'll probably be familiar with water towers, be it from the Looney Tunes or films like Stand By Me and Super 8.

Though large and unmissable, they're often easy to ignore. One town in Arkansas, however, decided to use their water tower to honour one of its most famous sons – the man in black, Johnny Cash.

The 'Ring of Fire' singer was born in Kingsland, Arkansas, in 1932, and in recent years just one of the many memorials to Cash was his infamous outline and guitar etched on the side of the town's water tank.

Now, however, it seems as if the 50,000-gallon tank has sprung a leak – thanks to a bullet hole that has appeared in a particular point in Cash's silhouette.

Earlier this month, on May 10, city officials noticed a stream of water pouring from the tower, and discovered the well-placed hole was caused by a bullet.

To put it bluntly, whether the shooter knew what they were doing or not, it now looks as if the 'I Walk the Line' singer is relieving himself from a great height, all over the town of Kingsland.

Mayor Luke Neal told Fox 16: "Somebody shot our water tower, shot the silhouette of Johnny Cash in a very sensitive area. It’s been leaking for the last almost week."

The result of the bullet hole has even become a tourist attraction in itself, as a number of people are said to have driven to Kingsland just to see the man in black pee.

Of course, it's not all fun and games; the leak is impacting the water supply to about 500 residents, and is losing around $200 of water a day.

On top of this, the tank will need to be drained and repaired, costing an additional $5,000, Mayor Neal estimated. "It might seem small in bigger places," Neal said, "But for here it’s a pretty large number."

Since the leak was first detected, local surveillance has led to a man being arrested, with the possibility of a second suspect being apprehended too, TMZ reports.

Chief Deputy at Cleveland County Sheriff's Department Gary Young said the man who has been arrested was given two felony charges, one for criminal mischief and one for impairing the operation of a vital public utility.

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Topics: US News, Crime

Charlie Cocksedge

Charlie Cocksedge is a senior sub editor at LADbible Group. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.