One of the parties in a road rage shooting incident two years ago has pleaded guilty to reckless discharge of a firearm within a municipality.
I read a lot about the case at the time and wrote several posts about the confrontation that occurred between the shooter, Martin Treptow, a security guard with a concealed carry permit, and Landen Beard, an undercover police officer.
But I never came across this bit of information about the sequence of events reported in today's Strib story.
Beard admitted passing illegally on the shoulder in a line of traffic on Woodcrest Drive heading south toward 99th Avenue, causing Treptow to get upset and follow Beard. Treptow said Beard was driving erratically and yelling at Treptow and his wife. Treptow honked, and the feud continued, culminating as the two vehicles were stopped behind other cars at a traffic light.
Beard said he pulled his gun and identified himself as an officer after seeing Treptow brandish one. Treptow, who had a handgun permit, said he fired after Beard pointed his gun toward Treptow and his wife, who was in the front passenger seat. The couple's children were in the back.
The cop in an unmarked car drives past on the shoulder of a suburban boulevard, and a guy with his family in the car takes it on himself to chastise the driver. A chase ensues and guns are drawn. This looks to me like Treptow put himself and his family in danger.
I'll be interested to see what Joel Rosenberg, who takes this case very seriously, has to say about this account.
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This is not beat up on stupid people with guns week, but here's a case from Oklahoma City that seems a bit clearer because there is video.
Two masked teens burst into a pharmacy. One has a gun, the other appears to have sack for loot. A man behind the counter shoots the unarmed robber first, then chases the fleeing second robber.
Then, he comes back in the store, gets another weapon from behind the counter and shoots the unconscious kid five times in the abdomen, killing him.
"I believe the majority of Oklahomans believe that what he did was justified,” said Jerome Ersland's attorney.
