Fire Fighter Charged in CCW Shooting

A fire fighter working for Merrionette Park was charged with felony reckless discharge of a firearm after shooting his legally concealed pistol during what he claims was self-defense situation.

According to Patch, Cook County Judge, John Mahoney, released 30-year-old Jeremy Bruno on $10,000 bail and had the public servant placed in an electronic monitoring device on Sunday.

Court records on the case say Bruno was attending a birthday party for a 5-year-old, when 24-year-old Jaime Salinas raced his Dodge Charger past the party of young children, prompting one of the guests to throw a beer can at his car, but missing.

Salinas circled back down the street and roared past the party once again, prompting another hurled beverage.

Salinas then ran over the party host’s and her neighbors’ mailboxes before running into Bruno’s truck, then began flashing gang signs at the other guests.

While Bruno was looking over the damage to his truck, Salinas “boxed in” the fire fighter and pointed what Bruno said he thought was a gun at him.

Bruno drew his .38 caliber Ruger LCP and fired two shots at the other man, “endangering the safety of the general public,” the charging documents claimed. Neither shots struck their intended target and no one is reported injured despite the events.

Oak Lawn Police took Bruno to the station where he was booked for a felony.

Later that same evening, the hosts of the party said Salinas returned in his Charger and tore up the lawn with his tires before hitting yet another mailbox and speeding away.

Police were finally able to locate Salinas in his Charger at around 10:30 that night, still racing down residential streets at high rates of speed and dragging his front bumper.

Oak Lawn police report following Salinas for a short time, but immediately gave up the pursuit when the Charger took off doing 80 MPH in 25 MPH zones, and blowing through at least 3 stop signs.

The next morning, the hostess reported to police that all four tires on her vehicle had been slashed.

Perhaps assuming detectives would be able to eventually track him down because of his license plate, Salinas turned himself in to the police on June 17^th. He was immediately charged with one felony count of aggravated fleeing, misdemeanor charges of criminal damage to property, and several traffic violations.

Cook County Judge John Mahoney was asked to remove Bruno, a qualified public servant, from electronic monitoring but turned down the request. Later, the judge changed his mind after learning of the allegations brought against Salinas for his part in the altercation.

Salinas is due back in court on July 10^th, while Bruno is due back on the 16^th to answer for his use of a firearm in self-defense.

You never know if, or when you may need self-defense protection to counter act legal fees which will accrue during an investigation. Even after being acquitted of a crime an armed citizen who acted justifiable may still be at risk in a multitude of other ways. Such as employment. Bruno might not be allowed to work as a firefighter until after the charges are cleared up.

This is similar to what happened to Stephen Maddox in the harrowing tale, Concealed Carry: Charged With First Degree Murder.

There are many providers of self-defense insurance with varying degrees of protection and success, but CCW Safe is one of the best, as you will see in the above article.