Man testifies he pulled weapon in self-defense

PALMER — Tyler Gardino said he wasn’t trying to threaten anybody when he drew his pistol at the Del Rois bar in May.

Friday, Gardino entered the second day of his trial on assault and weapons misconduct charges. He was arrested May 2 when Alaska State Troopers were called to the bar.

He told the jury he was willing to accept responsibility for two of his three charges — both are weapons misconduct charges, one for drinking with a gun and the other for bringing a gun to the bar.

But, he said, regarding the assault count, he was not the aggressor.

“I was just trying to deter them from coming to kick my ass long enough so I could escape,” Gardino said.

Gardino said he’d been at the bar about an hour when trouble started. He’d showed up at about 7 p.m. with a man he’d picked up earlier in the evening hitchhiking. While ordering a beer, Gardino testified, a woman pointed to a man at the bar, saying he was a pillar of the community and that Gardino “owed him something.”

When Gardino pointed at the man to confirm who the woman was talking about, the man swore at him. Gardino swore back. And the fight broke out.

Four or five men advanced on him, Gardino said.

Then he remembered he had his gun on him. Gardino said his pistol had been on the console in his pickup but he’d put it in his pocket after picking up the hitchhiker.

“I didn’t really want it sitting out in the open next to someone I didn’t know,” he explained.

So he pulled out his pistol. Then someone grabbed him from behind and disarmed him. Someone else punched him in the face. He lost consciousness.

The next thing he remembers, Gardino said, is standing next to a patrol car.

“I didn’t want to fight these people,” Gardino said.

Prosecutor Trina Sears chipped away at Gardino’s story, asking him if he remembered telling a trooper he entered the bar unarmed, the fight broke out, he went to grab his gun, and bar patrons dragged him back in.

Gardino said he’d read the transcript but didn’t remember the conversation.

“It didn’t really make much sense, what I told (the trooper),” Gardino said.

Sears asked him if anyone else in the bar had guns or even knives or sticks.

“Nobody held a stick to your head and tried to hit you with a stick?” Sears asked him.

“No ma’am,” Gardino replied.

She also asked him pointed questions about his injuries, pointing out he had nothing more serious than bruising on his face and a cut on the inside of his cheek.

“Do you wish you’d never pulled the gun that night?” Sears asked him.

“I just wish I’d never gone to Del Rois,” Gardino said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.