Citing His Religious Beliefs, Montana Man Shoots Bartender For Using Wrong Tomato Juice

Yet another example of someone thinking their religious beliefs trump someone else’s rights – in this case, the right to live. 

A Hamilton, Montana man is behind bars after shooting his bartender early Saturday morning. 59-year old Monte Hanson had ordered a “red beer,” beer with tomato juice, but when he learned he had been served Clamato, a tomato and clam juice mixture, he was furious.

After the bar closed, Hanson reportedly went to the home of Joe Lewis, the 29-year old bartender. Hanson says it’s against his religious beliefs – he is Jewish – to drink Clamato, so he allegedly shot Lewis.

“Court records said he told a neighbor later that he was going to retaliate and kill Lewis,” the Montana Standard reports.

Hanson was arrested and arraigned on “a felony charge of attempted deliberate homicide and a misdemeanor count of animal cruelty,” the Missoulian reports.

Lewis was hospitalized, but Hanson also shot Lewis’ dog Jackson in the head. The purebred red-nose pit bull died, literally taking a bullet that saved Lewis’ life.

“He’s pretty broken up about his dog,” Mike Lewis, Joe’s brother, said. “Anyone who knows him knows he’s not your average animal guy. He takes his animals very, very seriously.”

Joe earns his living chopping wood and working at Hamilton’s Rainbow Bar. His brother Mike has set up a GoFundMe page to help with expenses since Joe won’t be able to work for a few months.

“Joe hasn’t asked for any of this,” Mike Lewis told the Standard. “In fact, he’s pretty reluctant about it all. He’s the kind of guy who will give you the shirt off of his back and never ask for anything in return. It’s been hard on him to allow us to push him down and tell him he has to take it.”

 

Image by Thomas Hawk via Flickr and a CC license
Hat tip: Newser