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The city of Pleasanton and its police department have filed a joint petition for a gun violence restraining order against a resident after he allegedly threatened to shoot up a local medical office building and the family of the person who shot him just months ago.
Mark Webster, 71, was shot multiple times in a confrontation outside his home with 50-year-old Sunol resident and dog trainer Joshua Kaplan back in July.
According to the petition and the attached declaration from PPD Detective Nickolas Skaggs, a doctor at the John Muir Health Pleasanton Outpatient Center said that on Sept. 23 Webster told her he was “going to enact ‘revenge’ against the other party by ‘shooting him and his family,'” and that he was not concerned about going to jail for the rest of his life.
The situation escalated days later on Sept. 26 when a PPD officer responded to criminal threats allegedly made at the outpatient center, according to the petition filed Oct. 15. Webster was scheduled for an ultrasound that day but became frustrated, left the imaging department and went to his doctor’s suite.
That’s when Webster’s doctor and a clinical assistant claimed Webster made more concerning threats about Kaplan and his family, along with threats to the building, saying that he was tired and that he was “going to shoot this place up.”
A clinical assistant relayed the threat to police and another colleague also corroborated the statement, according to the petition.
“Respondent made threats to commit a mass shooting, while in possession of multiple unregistered firearms and ammunition,” Skaggs wrote in the document. “Coupled with his reported mental instability and personality disorder, he poses a risk to himself and others.”
Skaggs also said he interviewed Webster who “categorically denied” threatening to shoot up the medical office.
PPD Lt. Nicholas Albert clarified to the Weekly that the restraining order petition is unrelated to the ongoing shooting case involving Kaplan and Webster.
“The associated case hasn’t been resolved through the court process, so we are unable to comment further on a pending matter,” Albert told the Weekly.
The altercation between Webster and Kaplan stemmed from allegations of Webster abusing his dog, according to past court records. A pre-trial hearing in that case is currently set for Nov. 13
However, Skaggs wrote in his declaration that since the summer shooting incident, Webster has been hostile toward law enforcement and toward Kaplan. Webster’s doctor also told police that Webster suffers from a “personality disorder and is not mentally stable.”
That revelation, along with Webster allegedly owning two unregistered firearms after having told officers he did not own any additional guns, led Skaggs to his determination that Webster is “unfit to possess firearms.”
“He should seek mental health treatment and anger management treatment to curb his violent tendencies,” Skaggs wrote. “5 years is sufficient to accomplish the above, given the severity of his behavior.”
According to the Superior Court of Alameda County Public Portal, a gun violence restraining order hearing is scheduled for Nov. 20.
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He’s only “going to lose his guns” for threatening to shoot up medical offices? What’s wrong with this picture???