Jeffrey D. Peterson and his wife told authorities they were coming home when a masked man jumped out of the bushes and accosted them at gunpoint.
Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick this morning said Saturday's fatal shooting in Syracuse may have been in self defense. Shaheen Bean, 33, was killed on the city's East Side.Fitzpatrick said Jeffrey D. Peterson and his wife claimed they were arriving at their residence at 2501 E. Genesee St. about 4:45 a.m. Saturday when a masked man jumped out of the bushes and accosted them at gunpoint.
Both Peterson and his wife claim Peterson ended up shooting the gunman during a struggle over the weapon, the DA said.
Authorities have identified the victim as Shaheen Bean, 33.
Peterson and his wife have been cooperative with police and no charges have been filed, Fitzpatrick said. It appears the shooting was an act of self-defense but authorities are continuing their investigation to make sure, the prosecutor said.
Fitzpatrick said he is waiting for the results of the forensic investigation and the autopsy results to review the angle of entry of the victim’s bullet wounds and whether any of them were contact wounds.
Fitzpatrick said it appears only one weapon was involved in the shooting, a fact that tends to support Peterson’s self-defense claim.
Fitzpatrick’s account also tends to support the story a neighbor told Saturday of being awakened by gunfire.
Nancy Miller told The Post-Standard Saturday she heard a man’s voice and a woman shouting after Miller and her husband were awakened by the sounds of numerous gunshots. Miller said she thought the woman was the resident of the home where the shooting occurred.
Officials said the shooting took place in the yard of the residence at the corner of Ellis and East Genesee Street and that Bean was rushed to University Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Fitzpatrick also said today that Peterson had recently been released from state prison in a local drug case.
According to state Department of Correctional Services records, the 39-year-old Peterson was just released from state prison to parole supervision in March.
He had been sentenced in July 1998 to serve 20 years to life in prison after being caught trying to accept more than four pounds of cocaine at a local motel the previous September.
Authorities had intercepted the shipment of drugs from a car on Interstate 81 in Tully after learning from a wiretapped conversation that the shipment was headed to Peterson from New York City.
Authorities wrapped up two Daily Planner books in newspaper and duct tape to resemble the cocaine packages. The driver of the car agreed to cooperate and bring the packages to Peterson at a motel in DeWitt.
Authorities taped the transaction in which Peterson accepted the packages, slipped them into his pants and discussed increasing payments to make up some money he owed for past dealings, officials said.
Police then moved in and arrested Peterson.
An Onondaga County Court jury deliberated less than two hours before convicting Peterson of attempted first-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and second-degree conspiracy.
Corrections records appear to indicate his original life sentence was modified to 12 ½ to 25 years with Peterson on parole supervision through March 2015.