Virginia Tech student arrested for using shotgun

Monday, October, 4, 2010; 11:29 PM | 9 | | Print

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TOPICS: crime police

A Virginia Tech student was arrested over the weekend for discharging a shotgun, according to Blacksburg Police.

Police responded to the 300-block of Pheasant Run Court at 1:25 a.m. Saturday morning to a report of a subject shooting a firearm.

An investigation revealed 21-year-old Nelson Tuckwiller, a business major from Lewisburg, W. Va., discharged his shotgun twice in an attempt to disperse a crowd in an altercation in front of his residence.

No injuries were reported from the shotgun blasts.

Tuckwiller was charged with brandishing a firearm, reckless handling of a firearm and discharging of a firearm within town limits.

He was held at Montgomery County Jail on a secured bond.


A version of this article appeared in the Oct 5 issue of the Collegiate Times.

Leave a comment 9 Comments Write a letter to the editor

Anonymous | # October 5, 2010 @ 12:54 AM — Flag Comment

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Easy Proof Always Presents Itself | # October 5, 2010 @ 8:46 AM — Flag Comment

Yes, moron indeed. And since the gun loving morons want guys like this to be able
to drag weapons onto campus I guess we're lucky he chose not to fire in front of the
Library, or Burrus, or Norris...it's just too easy to find another gun owner who is
simply stupid. Thus - why the majority of people can't be trusted to act responsibly
when they own a gun. It's a big circle that presents proof on a daily basis. When will
people get it? Doyyyyyy! Oh, just kick him out of school.

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Ben Pearman | # October 5, 2010 @ 9:41 AM — Flag Comment

Obviously you're not a statistics major. There are more than 300 million firearms owned in the US. Saying that this and other incidents show that the majority of people can't be trusted to act responsibly is completely untrue. You'd need 150 million incidents or more to make your statement true. Gun advocates, namely concealed-carry advocates, absolutely DO NOT want idiots like this 'dragging weapons onto campus'. What we want is the ability to defend ourselves in a life-threatening situation. This guy was NOT in a life-threatening situation.

That being said, what you fail to realize is that you're speaking of two separate issues. If this guy would have had a concealed-carry permit, the charges would have been the same. I applaud the police for charging this idiot appropriately. It tough to conceal a shotgun, thus complying with a CCP. The only time anyone should know that you have a firearm concealed is the moment before they're looking down the barrel. The only time you draw a firearm is in a life-threatening situation when you fully intend to shoot. It's not to be used for intimidation or coercion. You absolutely do not use a firearm to 'disperse a crowd' or for other intimidation. Kudo's to Montgomery Co. police. This guy should be prosecuted to the limit. If I were the Commonwealth's Attorney, I'd add reckless endangerment to the list. Hopefully, one of the charges will stick and he'll be ineligible to obtain a CCP in the future.

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Anonymous | # October 15, 2010 @ 12:57 PM — Flag Comment

He is from West Virginia... Well all know they are gun toting rednecks.

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Thomas | # October 8, 2010 @ 8:53 PM — Flag Comment

Ben Pearman, you're the moron... this isn't about gun ownership... this is about drunken hokies having a brawl in front of some other hokies off campus apartment, who also has no sense and decided that the best course of action was to fire a shotgun in the air.

You know, for such a school of intellectuals, I see an awful lot of stupidity with Virginia Techs name on it around Blacksburg.

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M. | # October 13, 2010 @ 6:45 PM — Flag Comment

Tech students? Intellectuals?! Hahaha

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Charleton Heston | # October 14, 2010 @ 10:52 AM — Flag Comment

What if it was a knife fight out front of your house? What if it was a gun fight? What if it was a fist fight and someone was on the ground getting their head punched repeatedly into a concrete sidewalk? What if some drunk idiot pulled a gun inside the party instead of taking a fight outside?

If it was any of these situations all of you would be running and hiding behind the brave student who decided it was time for the nonsense to stop and asserted his authority over the party by brandishing a gun and firing two WARNING shots. You liberals and your gun hate kill me. Go home to Northern Virginia, or Norfolk, or New Jersey, or Pennsylvania. We true Virginians have gotten along just fine without all of your "ideas" about how we should live. Granted, this boy is from West Virginia, which means he probably IS an idiot, if anyone else did this yall would be chanting his praises. Please do not come to Southwest, Southern, or Central Virginia and tell us how to live our lives.

Thanks.

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Anonymous | # October 15, 2010 @ 1:06 PM — Flag Comment

@ Charleton Heston - This has nothing to do with politics. stick to the issue at hand.
1) it is illegal to discharge a fire arm in a residential area. Unless in self-defense.

2)if you want to disperse a crowd, then call the police.

3) common sense 101 you only use a firearm to shot at something. If you are going to pull out a firearm, then it should be for hunting, at a range, or in self defense. in this case, this idiot kid didn't have the common sense to realize that and he should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

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Anonymous | # October 17, 2010 @ 9:12 PM — Flag Comment

Also @Charleton Heston, I actually know the story and it was nothing as dramatic, and the guy with the shotgun was no "brave student". The whole ordeal was over a stolen keg, and he was not just trying to break up the fight to save some poor soul. It was his stolen keg. Brave student? I think not

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