A Nebraska bar owner that killed a rioter who was attacking him and his business has committed suicide, a friend has confirmed to The Gateway Pundit.
The bar owner, Jake Gardner, was indicted by a grand jury on counts of manslaughter, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, attempted first-degree assault and making terrorist threats after intense political pressure was placed on the city.
On May 30, the 38-year-old confronted a group of rioters outside one of the bars he owns in Omaha and was knocked to the ground.
From there, he fired two warning shots and tried to get to his feet, prosecutors said. As he did, Gardner got into a fight with one man, James Scurlock, 22. The two scuffled before Gardner fired a shot that killed him, Yahoo News reports.
The rioter who was shot had repeatedly broken windows at the bar and other businesses in the area.
The incident prompted a wave of further protests, particularly after Donald Kleine, the Douglas County attorney, determined that Gardner had acted in self-defense and declined to bring charges.
A week later, Kleine said in a statement that after hearing from local residents and elected officials he would welcome an outside review in this rare instance. He added, I made a decision and I would not change that decision based on everything I know today,' the Yahoo report explains.
Douglas County District Court Judge Shelly Stratman then appointed a special council, Fredrick Franklin, an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorneys Office in Omaha, to handle the case, though they said they expected the same outcome.
Instead, Franklin bowed to pressure and dug up evidence and came up with charges.
The manslaughter charge, he said, is related to Scurlocks death; the attempted assault charge resulted from the second warning shot Gardner fired; the charge of making terrorist threats is linked to a verbal confrontation that Gardner had with Scurlock, Franklin continued, Yahoo reports.
On Friday, a judge signed off on an arrest warrant for Gardner. A GoFundMe fundraiser to raise money for his defense was deleted by the platform. Gardner was allegedly planning to turn himself in to the police on Monday.