General Discussion

in 2016 (he finished 3rd in the Democratic primary). Also, the jogger was not a youth, he was 28yo in January 2013, 36yo when the article below was written in 2021, and is likely 41yo now.

Man John Fetterman confronted with a shotgun says that should not stymie his Senate bid

https://archive.ph/dd339

CHRIS BRENNAN
Philadelphia Inquirer / / STAFF WRITER

A man confronted in 2013 by a shotgun-wielding John Fetterman — then mayor of Braddock, now lieutenant governor and running for the U.S. Senate — claims Mr. Fetterman has "lied about everything" that happened that day. But Christopher Miyares, writing from a state prison in Somerset County, also told The Inquirer that incident should not stop Mr. Fetterman from becoming a senator. "Even with everything I said, it is inhumane to believe one mistake should define a man's life," Miyares wrote in one of two letters sent to The Inquirer. "I hope he gets to be a Senator." (That last line was underlined three times.)

The shotgun incident long has been discussed in political circles as Mr. Fetterman's career soared. But it has drawn new attention amid the racial reckoning stoked after the police killing of George Floyd and as Mr. Fetterman, a favorite of progressives, emerged as the early Democratic front-runner in a race next year that could determine control of the Senate.
Mr. Fetterman and Miyares tell very different versions about that January day from eight years back. Mr. Fetterman's story: He heard gunfire near his home in Braddock and saw a man wearing a mask running away, so he called 911, chased him down in his truck, and approached him with a shotgun in hand. Mr. Fetterman, who is white, has repeatedly denied knowing Miyares was Black or pointing the shotgun at him.

Miyares lived in Braddock at the time and said he liked Mr. Fetterman, but disputed his account. "He lied about everything," Miyares wrote. He has previously said he was jogging in the neighborhood when he heard fireworks, just before Mr. Fetterman confronted him. "He knew my race. The gun was aimed at my chest while he loaded five red shells into the tube of the 12-gauge TAC shotgun," Miyares wrote. "Once he finished, he aimed it at my face out of the Ford F-150 Truck." But in a second letter to The Inquirer, postmarked on the same day last month, Miyares said Mr. Fetterman could face a political backlash now if the Senate candidate revised his account. "Telling the truth on an incident 10 years ago could cause him more harm than good," Miyares wrote. "Mr. Fetterman and his family have done far more good than that one bad act or action and, as such, should not be defined by it." He signed that letter: "Gooo Fetterman."

The accounts of both men match a description in a 2013 incident report filed by Braddock police, who said Miyares was unarmed. The officer who responded to the 911 call said two people in the area stopped him to say "they heard several shots" before he got to Mr. Fetterman and Miyares. The officer wrote that Miyares, 36, was wearing "running clothing" and headphones and was "very cooperative, but was upset that Fetterman pulled a shotgun on him." Miyares' letters were in response to a letter from The Inquirer, seeking his version of the incident. He is serving an 18- to 36-month sentence after being convicted in 2019 of kidnapping, terroristic threats, unlawful restraint, and other crimes against a woman who hired him for a ride to work. Miyares contended in his letter that he is "in prison for a crime I didn't commit."

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