murder a misdeameanor (tomato involved)

Anyone familiar with the film, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, will understand why the man had to respond with bullets.

There were several cases in my end of Connecticut in the last 30 years that had similar results, both in small rural towns. In one, a local bully who had become assaultive and was locally considered dangerous was shot dead in the middle of the road by his brother in law. In the other, a locally known house breaker/thief was seen by a neighbor coming out the back door of a house with an arm load of stereo equipment and shot dead. A state cop owned/lived in the house. In both cases the judge took the gun away, put the shooter on probation for a year or so, and levied a fine.

He still took a life. Anytime you shoot a gun, you risk that possibility. I think instead of the monetary fine he should have, at the VERY least, been sentenced to community service where he would have to lecture on the dangers of careless arms use.

Tomatoes are $1.39/lb. A tomato is a terrible thing to waste.
I have no idea where Millersburg OH is. Perhaps its far enough from anywhere to qualify for "frontier justice" status: the town bully got what he deserved for "probably" exhibiting a pattern of bad behavior in the past.
When I heard the story on NPR last week I expected some kind of explanation. But I got nothing.