An arrest warrant was issued for a 40-year-old Lawton man accused of pulling the trigger in a motorcycle club initiation ritual that killed a man in September 2019.
The Comanche County District Court issued a felony arrest warrant Feb. 28 for Jeremiah Brown for a felony charge of second-degree manslaughter, records indicate. The crime is punishable by two to four years in prison.
Brown is accused of killing Mark Gustafson during an incident at the motorcycle clubhouse. According to the probable cause affidavit, the shooting happened around 10:45 p.m. Sept. 18, 2019, at 4308 NW Pollard.
Witnesses told investigators that Brown and Gustafson were members of the Deadman’s Nomads motorcycle club. Brown and other club members were in a fight earlier in the night and there was suspicion that he could have been involved in causing the club members to be beaten up, the affidavit states. He has been involved in other motorcycle clubs and was familiar with the discipline applied to disloyal club members.
Brown was called to a bar to meet with club members following the incident and Gustafson and other club members were drinking and getting drunk. According to the affidavit, Brown knew they were angry and he’d been assaulted by them in the past. He was told to go back to the clubhouse on Pollard and get it ready for the club members’ return. He admitted to investigators that he was worried for his safety and should have gone home.
After getting the clubhouse ready, Brown left to give a family member a ride home from work and then returned to the club house. Brown told investigators that he was still concerned for his safety but he returned to the clubhouse.
Brown and other witnesses told investigators that Gustafson had a 9mm pistol he set on the bar; Brown was behind the bar. Gustafson picked up the pistol and handed it to Brown and told him to take it. Gustafson then followed a “biker club initiation” and told Brown to pull the trigger — the pistol wasn’t supposed to be loaded, the affidavit states. Brown said he didn’t know if the gun was loaded and never saw Gustafson check the chamber.
With the gun pointed to his head, Gustafson told Brown “if you trust me” to pull the trigger. Brown said, “When I pulled the trigger, the gun went off.”
The State Medical Examiner reported that Gustafson was killed by a gunshot wound at very close range with a muzzle imprint left on Gustafson’s forehead. He also had multiple red abrasions and purple contusions to the left ear and his nasal bone was fractured.
A warrant bond was set at $100,000.
Brown is described as standing 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighing 213 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair.
