Gun-Control Activist Arrested for Two Murders

A Connecticut man who spent much of his social media life calling for stronger gun-control laws has been arrested for murder after a multi-state manhunt.

According to police, 23-year-old Peter Manfredonia, a student at the University of Connecticut, allegedly stole several guns during a home invasion last week, killed two people in separate Connecticut assaults, then lead police on a multi-state chase.

Police said Manfredonia is suspected of killing 62-year-old Ted DeMers and assaulting another man in Wilmington after they found him walking along a road and offered him a ride back to his motorcycle. Manfredonia allegedly killed DeMers with a knife or sword.

Later in Wilmington, police believe Manfredonia broke into a home, held the occupant against his will, then took the man’s truck and several guns, leaving him unharmed. Police say Manfredonia then went to Derby and killed an acquaintance there, 23-year-old Nicholas Eisele. He later abducted a woman in New Jersey before finally being captured on Wednesday.

Despite his armed crime spree, Manfredonia was well known for his activism promoting stricter gun-control laws. Interestingly, he grew up six houses from the crazed killer who stole his mother’s gun and murdered 20 first graders and six educators in the horrible 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Much of his recent social media activity was related to his support of gun violence prevention groups in Newtown. According to a Fox61.com report, Manfredonia’s Instagram account last August showed pictures of him holding a cycling jersey, which he captioned, “Proudly representing Sandy Hook Promise for the biking leg of my triathlon.” Additionally, according to the Andover Leader, in a February 2018 publication, Manfredonia wrote that school shootings “are an epidemic that affects this great country in which we live. It is sad to think that any child should feel insecure in a school.”

Ironically, the murders attributed to Manfredonia came only days after a Pennsylvania school board member endorsed by gun-ban group Moms Demand Action, led by Shannon Watts, was forced to resign after threatening to shoot innocent people. Dr. Jennifer Rager-Kay had posted on Facebook: “I find it interesting that the largest group of those protesting in the anti-lockdown protest and refusing to wear masks in public as they see it as a violation of their constitutional rights are those against any form of gun regulation. As a conceal carry permitted gun owner, if you refuse to wear a mask and try to come within six feet of my family, I will exercise the same constitutional rights to shoot you.”

Freelance writer and editor Mark Chesnut is the owner/editorial director at Red Setter Communications LLC. An avid hunter, shooter and political observer, he has been covering Second Amendment issues and politics on a near-daily basis for the past 20 years.