A white man arrested for allegedly shooting a Black man with a paintball gun while hurling racial slurs was sentenced on Tuesday (October 10), according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District of West Virginia. Officials said 37-year-old Troy Anthony Pertuset, of Jane Lew, West Virginia was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for obstructing the investigation into his racially-motivated attack.
Weston police got a call on November 10, 2022, about the occupants of a vehicle "yelling racial slurs" near a home on Center Avenue, a criminal complaint obtained by WBOY states. The man in the vehicle, identified as Pertuset, reportedly said, "Where are you n*****?” before shooting his paintball gun from the car and striking the victim in the chest, police said.
Minutes later, officers got another call about Troy and his wife Brandy Pertuset, of Jane Lew, threatening a different Black man at a gas station. A witness claims the second Black victim got into an argument with the married couple, and the wife started berating the man with racial slurs.
According to the complaint, a witness claims Troy said, “I got a f***ing pistol and I’m going to f***ing shoot you for talking to my wife ... I’m going to f***ing kill this n*****."
Both of the Pertusets were arrested at the time and charged with a hate crime, WBOY reports.
While in custody, Pertuset reportedly called a witness in March and asked them to take the blame for shooting the first Black victim, investigators said. As a result, he was also charged with witness tampering. He pleaded guilty to that charge in June, according to WDTV.
The news release didn't say if Pertuset will be prosecuted for the hate crime charge from 2022. No word on the charges against Brandy Pertuset.
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