There are some details missing...but according to other press reports, it sounds like this guy was irresponsible to start out with. Some other articles on this subject:
"Nine years ago, he was expelled from Foss High School in Tacoma after showing fellow students a .38-caliber pistol in the trunk of his car. Sonntag's family sued the Tacoma School District in an effort to overturn the expulsion. According to a 1998 story in the News Tribune of Tacoma, the school district reached an agreement with Sonntag's parents that would allow Sonntag to enroll in any Tacoma school but Foss" - http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003095365_trooper30m.html
Another article--
Dick Sonntag told his son, Jack, not to carry a gun.
“He was a big strong kid,” the elder Sonntag said Thursday. “He didn’t need a gun for personal protection.”
But the younger man, who played nose guard for his high school football team, carried a concealed weapons permit and packed a 9 mm pistol almost everywhere, his father said.
Authorities believe a drunken Jack Sonntag used the pistol late Wednesday to gun down a Washington State Patrol trooper and then refused to drop it when cornered by Pierce County sheriff’s deputies. The deputies shot the 25-year-old man dead.
Now trooper Kelly Kalmbach is in the hospital recovering from gunshot wounds, two deputies are on paid leave from their jobs and one of Tacoma’s most prominent families is in mourning.
“It’s a tragic situation all the way around,” said state Auditor Brian Sonntag, the dead man’s uncle.
Jack Sonntag was born Nov. 23, 1980, in Tacoma, where his family has held influential positions since the late 1940s. Dick Sonntag said he and his wife raised their son to do what’s right.
“No one respected law enforcement more than Jack,” said Dick Sonntag, who believes alcohol impaired his son’s judgment.
In 1998 when he was 16, Jack Sonntag found himself in the headlines after being expelled from Foss High School. He’d shown some friends an unloaded .38-caliber pistol stored in the trunk of his car, which violated the district’s zero-tolerance policy on guns. His parents sued the district, saying the punishment was too harsh. The case was settled when Jack Sonntag was allowed to re-enroll in the district but banned from Foss. He finished his schooling at Steilacoom High, where he played football.
In 2003, Jack Sonntag was cited for carrying a weapon without a permit in Lakewood. A judge dismissed the charge with an order that forbid prosecutors from pursuing the case further, court records show. Dick Sonntag said his son was carrying the gun legally.
“We never had a problem with him in any way, shape or form,” Dick Sonntag said. “To us, he was the most loved person. He came out and helped us in our new home, doing work around the house.”
Jack Sonntag became an auto mechanic and was working at a Tacoma shop. His boss, Gary Klump, called him “an awesome employee.”
“He worked on anything I gave him: water pumps, radiators, timing belts, brakes,” said Klump, adding he, too, advised Jack Sonntag to quit carrying his gun. “I said, ‘Jack, that’s just going to get you into trouble.’”
Wednesday night, some time between 11:30 and midnight, Klump said his telephone rang. It was Jack Sonntag.
“He asked me to come and get him. He just said it was bad,” Klump recounted. “He said he’d tell me when I got there.”
By the time Klump arrived, Sonntag was dead.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/5891351p-5216632c.html
"Nine years ago, he was expelled from Foss High School in Tacoma after showing fellow students a .38-caliber pistol in the trunk of his car. Sonntag's family sued the Tacoma School District in an effort to overturn the expulsion. According to a 1998 story in the News Tribune of Tacoma, the school district reached an agreement with Sonntag's parents that would allow Sonntag to enroll in any Tacoma school but Foss" - http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003095365_trooper30m.html
Another article--
Dick Sonntag told his son, Jack, not to carry a gun.
“He was a big strong kid,” the elder Sonntag said Thursday. “He didn’t need a gun for personal protection.”
But the younger man, who played nose guard for his high school football team, carried a concealed weapons permit and packed a 9 mm pistol almost everywhere, his father said.
Authorities believe a drunken Jack Sonntag used the pistol late Wednesday to gun down a Washington State Patrol trooper and then refused to drop it when cornered by Pierce County sheriff’s deputies. The deputies shot the 25-year-old man dead.
Now trooper Kelly Kalmbach is in the hospital recovering from gunshot wounds, two deputies are on paid leave from their jobs and one of Tacoma’s most prominent families is in mourning.
“It’s a tragic situation all the way around,” said state Auditor Brian Sonntag, the dead man’s uncle.
Jack Sonntag was born Nov. 23, 1980, in Tacoma, where his family has held influential positions since the late 1940s. Dick Sonntag said he and his wife raised their son to do what’s right.
“No one respected law enforcement more than Jack,” said Dick Sonntag, who believes alcohol impaired his son’s judgment.
In 1998 when he was 16, Jack Sonntag found himself in the headlines after being expelled from Foss High School. He’d shown some friends an unloaded .38-caliber pistol stored in the trunk of his car, which violated the district’s zero-tolerance policy on guns. His parents sued the district, saying the punishment was too harsh. The case was settled when Jack Sonntag was allowed to re-enroll in the district but banned from Foss. He finished his schooling at Steilacoom High, where he played football.
In 2003, Jack Sonntag was cited for carrying a weapon without a permit in Lakewood. A judge dismissed the charge with an order that forbid prosecutors from pursuing the case further, court records show. Dick Sonntag said his son was carrying the gun legally.
“We never had a problem with him in any way, shape or form,” Dick Sonntag said. “To us, he was the most loved person. He came out and helped us in our new home, doing work around the house.”
Jack Sonntag became an auto mechanic and was working at a Tacoma shop. His boss, Gary Klump, called him “an awesome employee.”
“He worked on anything I gave him: water pumps, radiators, timing belts, brakes,” said Klump, adding he, too, advised Jack Sonntag to quit carrying his gun. “I said, ‘Jack, that’s just going to get you into trouble.’”
Wednesday night, some time between 11:30 and midnight, Klump said his telephone rang. It was Jack Sonntag.
“He asked me to come and get him. He just said it was bad,” Klump recounted. “He said he’d tell me when I got there.”
By the time Klump arrived, Sonntag was dead.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/5891351p-5216632c.html
