WI: Gun Range Owner uses Suppressed Automatic Rifle to Defend Self, Business

 Photo courtesy Matt Wasmundt

On Friday, 15 November, Matt Wasmundt was tired after a long day of classes at his indoor range, just off highway 29, three miles west of Wausau, Wisconsin.  The range Zingers and Flingers  is close to the geographical center of the state. There had been nearly a hundred students. The classes would continue the following morning. Deer season would start a week later. Many hunters would be coming in to zero their rifles.

The establishment has a class three license. They do a brisk business selling suppressors/silencers.

Instead of putting all the guns away, Matt took a break, then came back to the large indoor range/retail establishment to spend the night. He blocked the long, dirt driveway. He locked the doors and started to relax. 

 Zingers and Flingers as seen from Hwy 29 on Google maps, cropped and scaled by Dean Weingarten.

A crash alerted him. It was 10:52 p.m. He grabbed a short barrelled Patriot Ordinance Factory automatic rifle fitted with a suppressor, and took cover behind the counter. The intruders had broken the side lite glass next to the outside doors, and were inside the vestibule in two seconds, according to the surveillance video. The glass on the inner wall was laminated. It was tougher. It took them eight seconds to break down the laminated glass with the rock(s) they had brought in from outside. 

Matt was ready. 

He fired a four round suppressed burst into the upper left corner of the doors. It had the desired effect. One intruder bolted from the scene. The other dropped to the ground. Matt kept him there, then moved to activate the secondary alarm system to bring the Sheriff’s deputies. The intruder on the floor bolted for the  outside and took off. 

A third suspect was waiting in a car outside the acreage. The sheriff’s deputies arrested her before she left the scene. Issac D. Tomek was arrested a quarter mile away. He had run away from the getaway vehicle, rather than toward it. It took another day to arrest Brock a. Rhode, whose identity was known shortly after the arrest of the first two.  Security video exists of the entire event. From onfocus.news: 

Upon investigation, it was learned that Issac D. Tomek and Brock A. Rhode forcefully broke into the business by smashing out windows. The business owner was in his back office and heard the commotion. He armed himself and responded to the entry of the business where he was confronted by the suspects. He fired several rounds from his rifle and the suspects fled.

The Patriot Ordinance Factory rifles are based on the AR15 platform. This one was chambered in .223. 

The AR15 platform is an excellent defensive weapon, whether in the home, a business or as part of a spontaneously organized militia during civil unrest. 

A suppressor protects the user from being blinded by muzzle flash or deafened by the muzzle blast from a centerfire rifle cartridge, especially indoors. 

The event makes clear how effective a full auto burst can be to stop aggression. 

A local man, who knows Matt,  Jonny Petree, wrote this on the comments section of the Marathon County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page: