CHAMPAIGN – Four people were arrested in connection with a domestic battery Friday evening in Champaign where police said one woman scared off her friend's attacker by firing a gun in the air.

A Champaign police report said the incident happened about 6 p.m. at a home in the 1300 block of Hanover.

Assistant State's Attorney Chris Kanis said it apparently started when Charles Sherrill, 24, went to the home, where the mother of his child, Laquisha Matthews, 22, was. They got into an argument that turned physical.

After Sherrill allegedly struck Matthews, the woman living at the home, Shirel Brown, 22, went into a bedroom and got a gun. She pointed it at Sherrill and ordered him to stop hurting Matthews and leave the residence.

As Sherrill was leaving, Kanis said, Matthews went outside with him, where he allegedly hit her again. Brown again ordered Sherrill to leave and allegedly fired a couple of shots into the air, which persuaded him to leave but not before making threats about coming back with friends.

Matthews, in the meantime, grabbed a cable box and threw it at the windshield of the car Sherrill was getting into, breaking it, according to Kanis.

Kanis said Brown reportedly called her live-in boyfriend, Dale Devries, 22, to come home and gave him the gun, for which he has a valid firearm owner's identification card. Devries allegedly picked up a shell casing that had been ejected when Brown fired it earlier and flushed it down a toilet. That led to his arrest on charges of obstructing justice.

Police also arrested Brown for aggravated discharge of a firearm; Sherrill, who listed an address in the 2400 block of Prairie Green, Urbana, for domestic battery; and Matthews, who listed an address in the 1600 block of West Bradley Avenue, Champaign, for criminal damage to property.

Another man who had driven Sherrill to the house was also arrested on an outstanding warrant for a city ordinance violation.

Kanis said the police report would be reviewed Monday to see what charges might be formally filed.

Brown and Devries were released from jail Saturday on their own recognizance and Sherrill posted bond to be released. Matthews was apparently given a notice to appear in court because there was no record of her being at the jail.