ARMED MAN WHO TERRIFIED MISSOURI WALMART TO TEST SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS PLEADS GUILTY TO MINOR OFFENSE

BY ASHER STOCKLER ON 11/1/19 AT 4:16 PM EDT

A man who terrified a Walmart in Springfield, Missouri, in August after he entered the store clad in body armor while carrying a loaded rifle and handgun pleaded guilty on Friday to a less severe misdemeanor charge.

Dmitriy Andreychenko, 21, was originally charged with making terrorist threats, a second-degree felony punishable by up to four years in prison. But on Friday prosecutors instead allowed Andreychenko to enter a guilty plea to a charge of causing a false police report to be made.

This Class D misdemeanor carries a potential penalty of six months imprisonment, but Andreychenko received just two days "shock time" and earned credit for time served. As part of his sentence, he must complete community service hours, attend a firearm educational course and participate in a restorative justice program.

Andreychenko comes from a Ukrainian family and lives in Missouri, with his pregnant wife, on a green card. He entered the Springfield-area Walmart store in August, brandishing loaded firearms and donning body armor that he had retrieved from the trunk of his car.

Dee Wampler, Andreychenko's attorney, told Newsweek that his client is a "good man" who erred in judgment.

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The Walmart gunman: A timeline of what led to Andreychenko’s guilty plea

by: Chris Six, Jesse Inman
Posted: Nov 1, 2019 / 05:55 PM CDT / Updated: Nov 1, 2019 / 06:17 PM CDT

SPRINGFIELD, Mo – Dmitriy Andreychenko, the man accused of walking into a west Springfield grocery store with guns and a tactical vest, plead guilty Friday morning to an amended charge of class B misdemeanor making a false report.

Andreychenko is charged with causing a false report to be filed by the Springfield Police Department.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, he received a 180 day suspended jail sentence, two years of probation, firearm training, and participate in a victim-offender dialogue.

“He’s taken an advanced training course on weapons to educate him more about the Missouri and federal law on weapons. He’s done community service, he’s already done five days in jail, so he has had a good opportunity to think about what he was doing,” says Dee Wampler, who represented Andreychenko

Patterson also said that he will take part in a Victim Offender Dialogue. He says this allows both parties to talk about the incident and what occurred and arrive at a manor of restorative justice.

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“It was a really irresponsible and ill-conceived, social experiment. He knew he could cause that kind of reaction. That’s why this charge of causing a false report to be made, I believe is appropriate, cause it fits with what he was doing,” said Greene County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Patterson after the guilty plea.

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