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Bay Area father shot and killed during Sierra trip with son, who spent 30 hours hiding in wilderness
SF Gate ^ | 6 July 2020 | Eric Ting

Posted on 07/07/2020 3:02:20 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT

45-year-old, Ari Gershman, a pulmonary doctor, was off-roading in a new four-wheel drive Jeep with his son Jack near Downieville when a gunman opened fire. The gunman killed Gershman, but his son escaped and called police. The fundraising page says the son hid for over 30 hours in the Tahoe National Forest before a search team found him.

Deputies stated the gunman is believed to have shot two other people in the area on Friday. The two unidentified victims were taken to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries. After the victims were taken to the hospital the sheriff's office received the call from the boy informing them of the shooting of his father and his getting lost during the escape.

The suspect's identity was not released, and the sheriff's office stated it anticipated releasing more information "in the coming days."

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: arigershman; buttecounty; california; downieville; gershman; johnconway; murder; oroville; sierras; tahoe; vandal; vandalism
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To: Leep
Was the son the shooter

Shot two other people to make it look like a mad man was on the loose?

Yea, no question about it. You are the super sleuth of the month on this site...........

21 posted on 07/07/2020 4:15:56 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco
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To: Rio

Fundraising for what?

His murdered father’s funeral?


22 posted on 07/07/2020 4:16:25 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
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To: flaglady47

“I hope it isn’t some Intifa type guy taking potshots at campers. “

That is what I wondered?

Guessing if it was the usual deranged type, they would have released his name/hometown?


23 posted on 07/07/2020 4:21:17 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
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To: babble-on
They're competing with the state.

They sell if for cheaper than the state sanctioned, taxed variety.

"Legalization" has increased the black market.

24 posted on 07/07/2020 4:22:03 PM PDT by Eagles6
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To: SunkenCiv

Finally, after 30 hours the son must have felt Deliverance.


25 posted on 07/07/2020 4:23:01 PM PDT by glorgau
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To: SunkenCiv

Lots of missing information on the suspect.

If he had been a white supremacist, it would have been trumpeted all over the national news and would be for months.


26 posted on 07/07/2020 4:24:10 PM PDT by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith....)
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To: Rio

I agree. The father was a pulmonary doctor. Why do they need a fundraiser?


27 posted on 07/07/2020 4:28:30 PM PDT by Stormy_MS1
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To: DUMBGRUNT

[I have occasionally wondered about that one, and if he survived the night.

About five hours from anything, less than two hours of light, carrying nothing and low cut shoes in a foot of snow?

He did not seem threatening but he seemed a bit off.

Not desperados but the gold prospectors can be ‘interesting’.

Most love to talk about their operation and enjoy having company... more than a few times just following a trail, stumbling in on them, had them show a weapon or point to the holster...
I can take a hint.]


I think some people head out into the wilderness to clear their heads. The guy might have been on something, or he might just have broken up with his girlfriend, been fired, etc. Some head out unprepared, have a near-death experience, and experience an epiphany. Upon which they return to civilization and get back on the horse, but with a new zest for life. Hopefully that’s what happened in that particular case.

In the worst case, however, some medical examiner might end up having to identify an anonymous set of bones via DNA and dental records. The wilderness is an unforgiving place. Wild animals die of exposure all the time. Citified humans have far less developed survival skills.


28 posted on 07/07/2020 4:30:06 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room.)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

I normally carry when I hike. If I am hiking with my friend Sam, and he is carrying, I normally don’t.

I recall hiking one time and encountering a bearded man an a woman (non-bearded) who were carrying a rifle, tent, huge bottle of alcoholic beverage. No packs, just loose in their arms. Not a comforting sight. Next day spotted the man walking alone beside the road carrying a rifle. Just strange.

One never knows what kind of crazies that are out there.


29 posted on 07/07/2020 4:32:17 PM PDT by The_Media_never_lie
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To: DUMBGRUNT

I normally carry when I hike. If I am hiking with my friend Sam, and he is carrying, I normally don’t.

I recall hiking one time and encountering a bearded man an a woman (non-bearded) who were carrying a rifle, tent, huge bottle of alcoholic beverage. No packs, just loose in their arms. Not a comforting sight. Next day spotted the man walking alone beside the road carrying a rifle. Just strange.

One never knows what kind of crazies that are out there.


30 posted on 07/07/2020 4:32:21 PM PDT by The_Media_never_lie
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To: metmom

its telling that we don’t know who the suspect is....just like whoever went into an apartment back in Virginia and shot 5 “teenagers”....no description of him either...


31 posted on 07/07/2020 4:36:02 PM PDT by cherry
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Go Fund Me for the family. Mom’s in chemo for terminal cancer, three kids. This boy was 15 yo. We have left campgrounds in the middle of the night before - one a couple of hours from LA, a bunch of yahoos jeeped in in the middle of the night. We were camping in the back of our pickup. Another in the eastern Sierras - just a bit too isolated and yet at the end of the road. Isolated is not always safer. Eastern Sierra campgrounds, with a ‘camp boss’ living there, are another thing.


32 posted on 07/07/2020 4:44:30 PM PDT by bboop (does not suffer fools gladly)
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To: DUMBGRUNT
A lot of those towns in the Sierras never recovered from the gold mines shutting down in the 1950s.

Downieville in particular, up on State Route 49 and well past the split for Route 20 to take you to Rt 80 doesn't have much of an economy. The shooter is likely involved with illegal marijuana crops or meth.

33 posted on 07/07/2020 4:44:57 PM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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To: Hot Tabasco

Thanks, but you will always be the Hot Tabasco around here.


34 posted on 07/07/2020 4:46:34 PM PDT by Leep (We can go to the grocery store but we can't go to work?)
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To: Tom in SFCA; BiteYourSelf; DUMBGRUNT

I agree - Going with the marijuana plant farmer as the shooter theory.


35 posted on 07/07/2020 4:55:08 PM PDT by Robert A Cook PE
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To: Zhang Fei

“Upon which they return to civilization and get back on the horse, but with a new zest for life. Hopefully that’s what happened in that particular case.”

I’m glad you said that now when the subject comes up, I can say he hit a bad spot...had a very cold night ... lived happily ever after.


36 posted on 07/07/2020 5:13:17 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
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To: Robert A Cook PE

“Going with the marijuana plant farmer as the shooter theory.”

The old line was, ‘there is no percentage in murder’; that is you owe $$$ to the dealer, he collects nothing if he kills you.

The same would apply here.
Shooting passers-by will only bring problems.


37 posted on 07/07/2020 5:21:59 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
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To: Stormy_MS1

“The father was a pulmonary doctor. Why do they need a fundraiser?”

I’m related to a couple of physicians, know others.

Not all of them are megabucks, comfortable, yes, not high end.


38 posted on 07/07/2020 5:27:07 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT ("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last message.)
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Comment #39 Removed by Moderator

To: Rio

Surviving family of wife undergoing chemotherapy, and the three kids.


40 posted on 07/07/2020 9:58:04 PM PDT by Ozark Tom
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