A Council Bluffs man was sentenced on Monday to 16 to 17 years behind bars for fatally shooting another man at a car show last summer.
Austin Petersen, 23, faced a maximum of 20 years in prison after he pleaded no contest to manslaughter for the June 2023 killing of 21-year-old Tristan Vincent. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dismissed an additional count of use of a firearm to commit a felony.
According to court documents and in-court testimony, police were dispatched to a parking lot near 90th Street and Military Avenue for reports of a shooting shortly after 8 p.m. on June 17, 2023. A large crowd of people had gathered in the lot for a car show.
Petersen was the first person to call 911, and he informed dispatchers he had been shot and that he shot someone else. First responders arrived and found Vincent, who had been removed from the scene and placed the back of a security guard’s vehicle, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Vincent was taken to the hospital, where he later died.
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Petersen was also shot in the confrontation, as were two other people at the gathering. Their injuries were not life-threatening.
Further investigation revealed Petersen and Vincent had been feuding for months prior to the shooting. Douglas County prosecutor Michael Murer said the bad blood stemmed from the fact the two men had dated the same woman.
While both parties were at the car show, according to Petersen’s attorney Glenn Shapiro, Vincent and his girlfriend began approaching Petersen “aggressively.†As they walked towards him, Petersen drew and loaded his gun. Within 12 seconds of drawing his weapon, Murer said, Petersen shot multiple times at Vincent.
Vincent was unarmed, but a friend of Vincent’s shot back at Petersen, striking him.
Shapiro argued the case had “clear undertones of self-defense†and indicated it could have gone to trial on a self-defense theory, though he believed the plea deal was in Petersen’s best interest. He asked the judge to consider a term of probation given Petersen’s age and lack of criminal history.
“I truly believe that he thought he was at risk of serious harm,†Shapiro said of Petersen. “He was defending himself.â€
In a brief statement to the court, Petersen said he was “truly scared and in fear†for his life during the confrontation.
“I’m not a bad person, your honor,†he said. “I was just put in a bad situation.â€
Prosecutors said even if Petersen was afraid Vincent was going to beat him up, pulling a gun and shooting multiple times is not a proportionate response to being approached in an aggressive manner. You can’t bring a gun to a fistfight, Murer said.
Vincent’s parents both asked the court to sentence Petersen to the maximum of 20 years — a sentence Vincent’s mother, Erin Jackson, said “pales in comparison to the lifelong sentence we are serving without Tristan.â€
“We are consumed by the injustice of all of this,†Jackson said. “I implore you to view this case through the lens of our shattered lives.â€
Douglas County District Court Judge Horacio Wheelock said the case has weighed on him heavily since Petersen entered his plea in March. While Wheelock said the case did have a “significant†self-defense element, that didn’t make Petersen’s decision to use deadly force appropriate.
“This is a very difficult case on many different levels,†Wheelock said before pronouncing the sentence.
Under Nebraska’s good time laws and with credit for time served, Petersen will serve about six to eight years in prison.