Holy cow! 
Of course the first was an accident, but the second sounds like he let his temper get the best of him. Amazing that he was not prosecuted for murder on the killing of the restaurant owner!

oneatatime wrote on Dec 16^th, 2021 at 11:07am:


Not only at the other guy's house, but the money was stolen in May, and the shooting occurred in July! Obviously not a spur of the moment shooting after the theft! 
Did it take him that long to find out who stole it, or to get mad enough to do something about it? His defense was "insanity and self defense"???

Well, all I can tell you guys is that ya better pay the bill when ol' Axe tells ya what it is!

And, thanks, Joe for these interesting bits. Merry Christmas.

Didn't Peterson have a hand damaged (left I think) from a gun shot ?

It seems that one should not antagonize gunsmiths. There was a gunsmith, last name of Dutre, Joe, if I remember correctly, in San Jose, CA. Used to work for Weatherby. He was robbed and stabbed, managed to crawl to the sidewalk in front of his shop, and shot the robber departing the scene of the crime. He faced some charges, as he shot the robber in the back, but there was such an uproar, the charges were dropped. This was long ago, and related from memory, but fairly accurate I believe. I used to visit his shop, and he was very nice to an Inquisitive young lad. I too question the IQ of someone robbing a gun shop armed with a knife. Most, it would seem, have heard the old adage, don't bring a knife to a gunfight

rkba2nd wrote on Dec 16^th, 2021 at 7:53pm:


I remember that fellow, and yes, I think his name was Dutre. I also dimly recall that incident. 

The one or two times I visited his shop was just before he closed the business, it was a dusty cavernous place with bare shelves and almost empty display cases. I had heard he had a few left handed bolt action rifles, which were none too common back then. What I found were a couple of old Savage barreled actions that seemed a bit high priced for a youngster barely out of his teens. 

Pleasant enough fellow though.

There was a connection that I was not aware of early on. He rented the building on Santa Clara St. from a grandfather of my girlfriend and wife to be. I tried to find newspaper coverage regarding the incident, but to no avail. I do know that he recovered, and continued his business, but I too moved away.