Video: Somerset man breaks down at gun sentencing in Morristown
By Kevin Coughlin
Sad ending… or happy ending?
Sad, because this man’s worst day played out Monday in a Morristown courtroom.
Happy, because it didn’t play out on cable news with round-the-clock coverage over the summer. Nobody got hurt.
Andrew Pfitzenmayer, 27, was sentenced in Superior Court to three years in state prison for carrying a handgun into Morristown’s Headquarters Plaza on the morning of July 29, 2015.
He was wearing a bullet-proof vest that morning. His backpack contained two Glock semi-automatic handguns, hollow-point bullets, a police baton, a fake badge, and handcuffs.
Pfitzenmayer told authorities he stopped at HQ Plaza to inquire about office space, and planned to continue to a Randolph shooting range.
He thought about catching a movie, according to Judge Salem Ahto, but the cineplex hadn’t opened yet. Pfitzenmayer inquired about the location of the Secret Service office at HQ Plaza.
Security personnel grew suspicious and contacted the Secret Service and Morristown police, according to Morris Prosecutor Fredric Knapp.
“Thank goodness law enforcement did not overreact,” Judge Ahto said at the sentencing.
In this video, Pfitzenmayer, who was described as having a learning disability, appears incredulous when it sinks in that he’s not getting probation. He asks sheriff’s officers if they can cuff his hands in front of him; they decline.
Sad to watch… yet it could have been so much worse.
The question that begs to be answered here: How could such a troubled young man legally acquire firearms?
Sad to watch? This man put countless people at risk, including innocent children in a daycare. To stand up and actually clarify that his plea bargain resulted in jail time is ridiculous. Sad to watch? He is now a convicted criminal who, because of poorly written laws has the equivalent of a slap in the wrist. You mention that it is a video of a man’s worst day. How about a parent reading of a man entering their children’s daycare building wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying hollow point bullets? Sorry, there is no room for empathy here, just gratefulness for a vigilant public.