A Des Moines man the state had already classified as ineligible to carry weapons pulled a Glock 9mm on two teenagers after a fender-bender Friday — and a judge set his bond at $12,000 cash.
The charge sheet tells the story better than any press release. Bradley Ratkovich, 43, faces two counts of assault while displaying a dangerous weapon, two counts of first-degree harassment, and one count of being a person ineligible to carry dangerous weapons. That last charge means the system already knew this man shouldn't have a gun. He had one anyway, pointed it at an 18-year-old driver and a 16-year-old girl, and threatened to shoot — all over a minor crash.
According to Fox News, officers responded around 2:30 p.m. after witnesses reported one driver pointing a handgun at another. Witness Joshua Barzon captured video showing Ratkovich standing in front of the occupied sedan, Glock aimed at the occupants. "Don't do it. Relax, bro," Barzon can be heard saying. He later posted on X: "Road rage almost turned deadly today in my area of Des Moines."
Police arrived and ordered Ratkovich to drop the gun. He complied and was taken into custody without incident. Ratkovich pleaded not guilty and waived a preliminary hearing. He's due in court Aug. 4, with arraignment Sept. 9.
The Des Moines Police Department issued a statement: "Traffic crashes can be stressful, but introducing a firearm into a disagreement dramatically increases the risk of violence." True enough — but the department's lecturing tone sidesteps the real question: how does a prohibited possessor obtain a Glock 9mm in the first place, and why is the price of pointing it at children just $12,000?
This isn't an isolated failure. The same weekend in Seattle, a 15-year-old fired a handgun into a crowd at the Bite of Seattle food festival in what police believe was a gang-related shootout involving at least three shooters. Three people died — including a 44-year-old father of three and a 56-year-old woman, both bystanders — and a 2-year-old boy was among the wounded. One shooter, 19-year-old Junior Cee Niko Semo, died at the scene. A third suspect remains at large.
City officials fumbled the response. The Lewiston Morning Tribune reported that Mayor Katie Wilson initially announced two people were in custody, then retracted it. Police waited five hours to tell the public a shooter had been arrested and another was believed to be on the loose. The New York Times noted Seattle's surveillance camera system — installed amid heated debate — doesn't even cover the area where the shooting occurred.
And in Little Rock, Arkansas Online reported a third suspect was arrested Monday in a July 19 hotel shooting that left Otis Shavers, 55, dead. One of the other suspects, Robert Fluker, 39, was already sitting in jail on drug and burglary charges when he was linked to the killing.
Prohibited possessors with Glocks. Fifteen-year-olds firing into festival crowds. Suspects already in custody on other charges tied to new killings. The gun isn't the story — the system that keeps failing to keep dangerous people disarmed, detained, or deterred is. And the officials quickest to lecture the public about firearms are the slowest to answer for that failure.
