TN: Shooting at party ruled self-defense
http://www.mlive.com/news/jacitpat/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1119024341112980.xml
Shooting at party ruled self-defense
http://www.mlive.com/news/jacitpat/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1119024341112980.xml
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A Tennessee man who shot two men at a graduation party early Sunday morning was justified, prosecutors determined Thursday.
“It appears to be bona fide self-defense,” Jackson County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Mark Blumer said.
Although John Bartel, 51, will not be charged in the shooting, he faces a charge of illegally carrying a concealed weapon.
“If he would have had a concealed weapons permit from Tennessee, we would have honored it,” Blumer said. The .45-caliber handgun was not licensed, he said.
Leoni Township police said there was a fight at a graduation party for Michigan Center graduate Brandon Bartel at 440 S. Sutton Road.
A young man was asked to leave, and he returned with friends to start the fight that led to the shooting, officials said.
John Bartel suffered multiple fractures to his jaw, but it is unclear if he was struck with a fist or an object, Blumer said. Bartel fired his gun, striking two men, ages 22 and 24.
The 24-year-old Brooklyn man remains at the University of Michigan Hospital with a bullet wound to his chest.
A 22-year-old man from Leoni Township was treated for a graze wound to the head and was not hospitalized.
Police declined to name the hospitalized man, who could face assault charges. The incident remains under investigation.
John Bartel returned to Tennessee for surgery on his jaw, Blumer said.
? 2005 Jackson Citizen Patriot. Used with permission