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Here’s the story:

Police say rest stop shooting justified

Lynnwood man fired at hitchhiker in self-defense

By HECTOR CASTRO
P-I REPORTER

A motorist who shot and wounded a belligerent hitchhiker Wednesday at a highway rest area acted in self-defense, police say.

The shooting happened just before 7:30 p.m. at the Nason Creek rest area on U.S. Route 2 near Lake Wenatchee and just west of Leavenworth.

The man who was shot, Jay Anthony Kneer, 45, was taken to Harborview Medical Center, where he was in the intensive care unit in serious condition Thursday. He is listed as a Renton resident, but Chelan County Sheriff Michael Harum said Kneer spent much of his time in Eastern Washington.

Kneer has a criminal record going back 20 years, with more than 50 arrests in that time and multiple convictions for theft, trespassing, drug violations and robbery in King, Snohomish and Chelan counties.

He was released last month from the Chelan County Regional Justice Center, where he had been since his arrest in January on suspicion of second-degree robbery.

He was well-known to Chelan County deputies, Harum said, and was typically combative with them. He said that when deputies had to handle a call involving Kneer, “you made sure you had a second person there.”

Before the shooting, Kneer had been hanging around the rest area. Harum said volunteers who handed out coffee and cookies to passing motorists told deputies that Kneer had been harassing them.

The volunteers left at about 7 p.m., shortly before the shooting, so Kneer was the only person around when Dennis Shaw, 66, of Lynnwood, and his wife pulled into the rest area.

In the restroom, Kneer asked Shaw for a ride, but Shaw refused. Kneer followed him, yelling at him and demanding a ride, police said.

Kneer’s demeanor and aggression began to scare the motorist, Harum said, adding that Kneer had a reputation for aggression and, at 6-foot-2, could be intimidating.

Once he was back at his pickup truck, Shaw retrieved a 9 mm handgun.

This only made Kneer angrier, Harum said, and he pulled out a quart-size bottle of whisky and swung it, missing Shaw, who was able to duck behind his truck’s door.

Shaw told deputies he pointed the gun at Kneer and fired when Kneer did not back off, telling them he meant it as a warning shot. But the shot struck Kneer in the head.

Harum said it appeared to be a clear case of self-defense and he does not expect the motorist to be charged with any crime.

“He was pretty upset, and from what the deputies tell me, remorseful,” Harum said. “It’s pretty sad.”  Source

So, what can be learned from this tale?

1. Learn to shoot your firearm under stress. Shooting people in the head when you don’t mean to is almost always a bad thing. In this case, the shooter got lucky. Based on his demonstrated marksmanship, had he tried to shoot the assailant, he probably would have missed or failed to get a fight-stopping hit. Practice, practice, practice…
2. Warning shots only work in the movies. This case illustrates one possible problem with warning shots — they can go someplace you don’t mean for them to go. What if the defender had hit an innocent bystander? Given his level of marksmanship, it’s altogether possible. Again, the shooter got lucky. If a situation is bad enough to warrant firing a gun, shoot to stop the attacker.
3. Carry your gun. It is really lucky that the shooter was able to return to his truck and fetch his neglected 9mm. It’s a miracle that the defender wasn’t killed or seriously injured before he reached his vehicle. Carry your gun. Better yet, carry two guns… and a friend with a gun…
4. Be aware of your surroundings. I won’t stop at a rest stop that looks deserted. If there are lots of people there, I feel a bit better, but I am still on my guard, especially in the bathrooms which can be kind of secluded. If you start to go into a bathroom and there is someone scary in there, just leave.

I am delighted that Mr. Shaw survived this encounter and had the will to defend himself and his wife, and I don’t mean to pick on him. Yet, this encounter illustrates some fairly common bad practices: warning shots, not having your gun with you when you need it, and inadequate training. Shaw was really lucky. Hopefully his terrifying experience can be instructive to all of us so that we can be safer and more effective with our self-defense weapons.