These posts are based on our Good Guy with a Gun calendar. Today’s post is essentially the same as the calendar version.
A black pickup came in fast and crooked on a Wednesday evening and stopped half on the property, half out in the road.
30-year-old Austin1 saw it and figured there’d been a wreck. He’d never seen the truck before, and he didn’t know who was driving it.
He armed himself, went outside, and told the driver to get off the property.
The driver didn’t leave. He sat there yelling, and then he reached into the center console, and Austin heard what he took for a slide being racked, with movement to match. He was in fear for his life, and he fired.
Then he went back inside and called 911. So did several other people who’d heard the shots.
The driver was Matthew Weisner, 39, of Lakeland, and although I dislike speaking ill of the dead, the story of his demise is one of unmitigated stupidity and waste.
He’d spent the evening drinking at his girlfriend’s place in Pinellas Park. The sheriff’s office said, “Weisner and [Amber] Souza began arguing and Weisner began contacting Souza’s previous boyfriends out of jealousy.”
One of those exes was Austin’s older brother, Michael. Weisner got Michael on the phone, yelled at him, threatened to hurt him with a gun, and told him he was on his way over.
Problem was, Michael wasn’t at the house. The incident was over before he got back.
So Austin, the brother, was the one person in the whole situation who didn’t know what it was about.
Was there actually a gun in the truck console? The sheriff’s media release doesn’t say.
Weisner was still in the driver’s seat when deputies got there, shot in the head. The release called the wound “non-survivable” and said he was on life support. He died the next day.
Austin cooperated with the investigation and claimed self-defense.
Weisner ran a flooring company, and he left two children and two stepchildren. The obituary says he “chose to give the gift of life through organ donation.”
Sources
Primary
Detectives Conduct Shooting Investigation in Unincorporated St. Petersburg (24-117) (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office media release)
Matthew Todd Weisner Obituary (DeGusipe Funeral Home & Crematory)
News
Man hospitalized after St. Pete shooting (FOX 13 Tampa Bay, day-of, before the release)
Man in St. Pete tries to confront girlfriend’s ex, gets shot by his brother: deputies (WFLA)
Shooting leaves man with non survivable injuries in Unincorporated St. Petersburg (IONTB)
Pinellas County Detectives Investigate Shooting In Unincorporated St. Petersburg (Tampa Free Press)
Sheriff: Man shot in head outside girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend’s house in St. Pete (WTSP 10 Tampa Bay)
Jealous Boyfriend Shot At St. Pete Home Of Girlfriend’s Ex: Sheriff (Patch)
2A / Specialist
Mark Chesnut wrote about the incident at The Truth about Guns.
I prefer to use first names only unless the defender has done an interview, but the full names of the GGWAG and the ex-boyfriend are available all over the news and the sheriff’s media release if you really want to know them.
What is wrong with people? (That's a rhetorical question, just to be clear.)