Mall Vigilante Gets Deferred Sentence

The nearly-year-long saga of a pistol-packing mall vigilante came to an anticlimactic conclusion, as the man who fired a gun at suspected shoplifters last year received a deferred sentence on Thursday.

The Gazette reports that 30-year-old James Newman got a cumulative one-year deferred sentence and a $500 fine for misdemeanor charges of negligent endangerment and unlawful discharge of a firearm. He will not be allowed to possess a firearm while serving that sentence.

The hearing was held before Billings Municipal Court Judge Sheila Kolar.

On February 25, 2017, Newman opened fire on two people he suspected were shoplifters. When they got in their vehicle at the Rimrock Mall parking lot, he confronted them while the vehicle was parked and pointed a handgun at them. He fired six shots at them as the car sped around a corner in the lot.