Authorities call fatal shooting "self-defense"

Excerpted from story that originally ran here as:
"Shooter cleared in fatal attack"
"Shingletown man defended himself, authorities decide"
by Kimberly Bolander
The Record Searchlight/Redding.com
Wednesday, July 25, 2001

ANDERSON, CALIFORNIA � A Shingletown man acted in self-defense when he fatally shot an 18-year-old man outside an Anderson Burger King, officials said Tuesday.

Reed Vincent Ash, 38, shot Jason Robert Terrick of Anderson on Jan. 12 outside the fast-food restaurant on North Street.

Terrick, with a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the limit for driving, began beating Ash as Ash tried to drive away, said Anderson police Sgt. Glenn Tuschen said. Ash didn't feel he had any other option but to shoot him, Tuschen said.

"From the get-go, he's felt awful bad about this. He's expressed his sadness for Jason Terrick and for his family," he said.

Anderson police announced Tuesday that they would not arrest Ash. The Shasta County district attorney's office has decided not to file charges against him, Tuschen said.

Ash fired one shot with his semiautomatic .45-caliber ACP pistol, hitting Terrick in the upper right chest area, and drove off, Tuschen said.

"He was fearful for his safety. And I would say from a law enforcement point of view, I'm in agreement with him leaving the immediate scene, but not leaving the vicinity," Tuschen said.

Toxicology tests show Terrick had a blood-alcohol level of 0.21. Ash, who was pulled over west of Shingletown by a sheriff's deputy about 40 minutes after the shooting, had no alcohol in his system, the sergeant said.

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