Motorist allegedly hits passenger of another vehicle with gun

In an apparent case of road rage by proxy, a motorist is accused of using a gun to hit the passenger of a vehicle that passed him.

Tausten Buck Vialpando, 30, will be arraigned on a single count of assault with a weapon in Flathead District Court on July 7. Booked into county jail on June 23, he was released the following day.

According to court documents, Vialpando confronted the occupants of another vehicle on Farm to Market Road about 9:13 p.m., June 23. He later allegedly told deputies with the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office that the vehicle had passed him at high speed, upsetting him.

What began as an argument turned physical, court documents said. Vialpando allegedly hit one of the passengers with his gun, striking him on the head.

Deputies later noted a red mark above the victim’s left eye, court documents said.

Vialpando allegedly told deputies he took his gun out of his car during the confrontation because he was “angry at the way the other vehicle was driving,” prosecutors wrote in the charging document.

If convicted, Vialpando faces up to two decades in state prison and a maximum fine of $50,000.

News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or dperkins@dailyinterlake.com.