This is an odd defensive shooting: one guy starts shooting at his friend at a PA shooting range. Another guy at the range kills the shooter. Anyone see additional information on this very unusual situation?

He was shooting at his friend at a gun range '''for no apparent reason.''' Then, a stranger shot and killed him.

That is just plain weird.

The odds are better than even that there is either a woman, a dog or a piece of land at the bottom of it.

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On the whistle draw and fire 6

Glock vs 1911 argument or 9mm vs .45acp is where I'm placing my bets

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Strange. Glad a fellow shooter was able to neutralize the subject quickly.

At 26 years old, probably not Land.
I’m going with Money or a Honey.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

Or mentall illness... remember Chris Kyle?

"According to Weindorf, Eppley and the 28-year-old Erie man arrived at the gun range in separate vehicles, with their girlfriends, after one of the men had just purchased a pistol and they wanted to shoot the new gun."

My guess is this incident involves a girlfriend or former girlfriend. Mental illness? Could certainly be that or perhaps that combined with something else. There is a whole lot more to this story.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the story. Seems like the stuff of a Lifetime movie . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

Not too far from me, I am glad that I live in the country and have a range in my backyard. No winners in that confrontation.

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Made it, Ma! Top of the world!

The 67-year old that ended the incident was briefly detained by the State Police. All the stories seem to coincide that the deceased simply turned and started shooting at the 28-year-old that he had been sharing the weapon with at the range. The 67-year old observed the incident and immediately ended it. The 28-year old was discharged from a UofP hospital later than evening after suffering minor injuries. No motive for the assault has been released.

"At this point, we are continuing to investigate the back story, the relationship between these two individuals, to determine why the shooting occurred," Lt. Mark Weindorf, crime section supervisor for state police Troop E, said Thursday morning.

State police: Motive still unclear in gun range shooting near Erie

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Who watches the watchers?

A few strange points I picked up from the story:

The man shot by his friend was "shot multiple times" but also treated and released from the local hospital. These two were physically close in distance, the one was hit several times yet only lightly wounded? How bad of a shot was the shooter? There was no mention of a struggle between them, so you have to work pretty hard at it to just graze a guy you are standing right next to multiple times...

At first I was thinking a panic reaction or something similar by the shooter, but he was apparently shooting long enough at this friend to attract the attention of the guy who ended it.

Plus with the girlfriends on the scene I'd wouldn't think "money or a honey" as motive; I'm more inclined to think "money or drugs"!

10 feet away from each other.
New gun, just bought it, out to try it out together.
Victim released with "minor wounds" that evening from the local ER.

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Who watches the watchers?

It appears that the shooter was clearly in need of some formal instruction prior to launching into this endeavor. Sounds like the shootie was very lucky that this new pistolero's skills sucked!

the news on this one, but a father and so started shooting at each other the other day over something and ended up killing each other.

I'll go with the girlfriend angle. It seems to be premeditated, buy a gun, ask your "friend" to go to the range to try it out, turn the gun on the friend in front of the girlfriends; not the first time for something like this.

FWIW, I remember reading of a gunfight where an off-duty (I think) police officer and his attacker emptied their guns at each other from about 6' and neither of them was hit.

Having spent time as a RSO at our gun club that is open to the public on sundays, I can easily believe 10 feet and only minor wounds.

A Fla story in Pa?!

Rob

As an RSO, that and suicide are my greatest fears

I hate ranges! I am more nervous with the mental instability of the other shooters that I rarely go to a range anymore its been years. The silver lining is I still have a whole bunch of ammo.

I'm not too concerned about it at the range, either for other shooters going mental or just criminal activity. However, I do try to go when there are as few people as possible and I make sure to carry at least one loaded gun on me that I'm not shooting for emergencies. I also have my trauma kit with me.

I try not to let fear govern my life, but I'm not going to be stupid about it, either.

I am NOT trying to make excuses for the deceased shooter, but I can visualize this in a different way, and that hinges on the new gun owner's level of experience, the type of handgun, and the quality of ammunition.

For example: visualize a new shooter with negligible to no experience encountering either a hang fire/delayed primer detonation or a jammed/stuck trigger, turning with the pistol in hand (not pointed in a safe direction) with their finger still on the trigger, it goes off, and in the shock of the pistol firing keeps their finger on the trigger at the reset, which allows it to continue firing.

Yes, it may seem like a stretch of the imagination, but entirely possible. Based on what I have seen guests do when my club has an open house steel shoot, some of the dumb stuff I see some people do with a gun in hand makes the above scenario a likely possibility!

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Judge control not gun control!

I live near one of those PA State Range’s. Last time I shot there, about 9 years ago, I arrived to see a man in his 60’s wearing Vietnam era army fatigues. He was loading up an M1 carbine and I asked him if he wanted to put his ear protection on before I fired. He replied “I didn’t need them in ‘68 and I don’t need them now”. He then began firing at his target while shouting Asian slurs. “Take that, you g—k bas——“. And much worse.

Leave that area and go to a further part of the range. Got to watch two kids fight over who gets to shoot the .45 while the father tried to figure out how to load his Glock and the mother texted on her phone and ignored the whole thing.

Weekends are the worst. Lots of people from NY and NJ shooting like they’re on the set for a rap video.


That was it for me. I stop by on weekdays to pick up brass to reload. That’s it. Those places are unsupervised and dangerous. You always have to have a loaded gun they you’re not going to shoot in case somebody tries to take one of your guns. Don’t ever leave one on the bench while you go check your targets.

This whole story stinks. Lots being left out.

"There was always something weird about that guy, sniffing hair and all. Then he said you should shoot your 12 gauge off your back porch balcony."

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"Don't Give Up the Ship"

Our range is unsupervised 99% of the time. I have never seen anything weird unsafe or the like. Lucky I guess.

But, on the deal in this story I am going with a metal issue. Womanitus most likely

I'm guessing someone started bashing internal locks.

My shooting buddy remarked that I always/continuously look back at the firing line when we call for a cold range, and I go down-range to check targets.

Missouri has places like that. One is at Logan Conservation Area. I won't go to them, ever. Not after getting a loaded shotgun pointed directly at me with the safety off.

Obviously not his friend if he was shooting at him?? Mental illness is all around us & guns dont make that better.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

Maybe a fight over " do you call it a round? or a piece of brass which is just part of a round"

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"Don't Give Up the Ship"

I always thought they were handles.

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"Don't Give Up the Ship"

This is not the first time a shooting occurred at PA Game Commission shooting range. Former prison guard killed attorney for his gun.

Peake to spend life in prison for 2010 shooting (VIDEO) | Crime and Courts | cumberlink.com

45 ACP or 9MM. And somebody finally found out.

That was a nasty premeditated murder for a suppressed AR15. He also stole a 308 in another incident while the owner was 300 yds downrange checking targets.

No question that man had some mental problems. Being a veteran and then a prison guard something must have just snapped.

Ironically, I went to my local PA State range today. I just started reloading .357 yesterday and wanted to shoot the 12 I made before I started cranking them out. My club range was closed. I figured cold day after Christmas nobody would be there.

It had rained heavily the last two days Plenty of brass visible underneath the frozen puddles so I couldn’t get it. Oh, well. It will still be there in the spring.

One guy there. Very weird and talkative. Friendly, but clearly knew almost nothing about guns. Didn’t know gun would fire without mag in. Finger on trigger when it shouldn’t have been. Older guy, mid 50’s, decked out in full late 1980’s Army green camouflage BDU’s. No name tags or patches so I’m thinking surplus store purchase. Made me very nervous being around him. I fired those 12 rounds and left hastily.

Heard this story and immediately felt for the guy who killed the shooter. Imagine a day enjoying your hobby and ending up taking someone's life. Justified? Certainly looks so. Easy to live with?? Some of you may know better from personal experience, but for the average person....not a good day.

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Robert
SWCA #2906, SWHF #760

That may be very hard for him to come to grips with, no way to know. I hope he understands he most likely saved one man's life, possibly one or both of the women, and possibly his own life as well.

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You're shy a few manners.