A Council Bluffs man on Tuesday pleaded no contest and was found guilty of manslaughter for his role in a fatal shooting at an Omaha car show last summer.
Austin Petersen, 23, was found guilty Tuesday of fatally shooting 21-year-old Tristan Vincent after a fight broke out at a car show in northwest Omaha in June 2023. Three others, including Petersen, were also shot during the altercation.
In exchange for Petersen’s no contest plea to manslaughter, prosecutors dropped an additional charge of use of a firearm to commit a felony.
According to an arrest affidavit for Petersen, 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 were gathered in the lot for a car show, according to the affidavit.
People are also reading…
When first responders arrived, Vincent had been removed from the scene of the shooting by a security guard and placed in the back of the guard’s vehicle. Vincent sustained multiple gunshot wounds and died at the hospital.
Petersen had also been shot and was taken to the hospital. Two other people at the gathering sustained gunshot wounds and survived.
Through surveillance video and witness statements, police came to believe that Petersen shot Vincent. Petersen agreed to be interviewed upon his release from the hospital and told officers he shot Vincent in self-defense after Vincent grabbed him by the neck.
But according to the affidavit, surveillance video showed Petersen removed a gun from his pocket before any physical altercation occurred. Petersen shot at Vincent multiple times, and a friend of Vincent’s shot back at Petersen.
Petersen will be sentenced on May 6. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison with no mandatory minimum.