SAN DIEGO -
A military veteran with post traumatic stress disorder pleaded guilty today to threatening supervisors at an ambulance company that fired him and choking a dispatcher who was also his live-in companion.
Brandon Murray, 27, pleaded guilty before Judge Kerry Wells to making criminal threats and domestic violence assault and a misdemeanor count of possessing a loaded weapon in a vehicle.
He faces up to three years in prison when he is sentenced on Oct. 19.
Defense attorney Michael Earle said Murray was a Marine who had just returned from Afghanistan when he started working for Alert Ambulance Network, and that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
``The military can't treat him,'' Earle said. ``What we're hoping to do is bridge the gap. Hopefully, this will get him the treatment he needs.''
Over the past year, Murray had several confrontations with his superiors, and on Aug. 21, the company suspended him for two days and scheduled a meeting for the following Monday, said Deputy District Attorney Harrison Kennedy.
Over that weekend, Murray choked a female ambulance dispatcher he was living and later tried to get back into the residence by pushing an air conditioner onto her, injuring her face, arms and legs, according to the prosecutor.
That Monday, the woman got to work before Murray and learned that company officials planned to fire him, Kennedy said.
She called Murray to alert him, and the defendant in turn called administrators and told them they would have to ``face his arsenal,'' the prosecutor said.
The woman then left work and called co-workers, telling them they should leave, too, because Murray was headed that way, according to the prosecutor.
She then met up with Murray, and police spotted the couple and made a traffic stop, finding four loaded semiautomatic weapons and 149 bullets in the trunk of his car, Kennedy said.
Brandon Murray, 27, pleaded guilty before Judge Kerry Wells to making criminal threats and domestic violence assault and a misdemeanor count of possessing a loaded weapon in a vehicle.
He faces up to three years in prison when he is sentenced on Oct. 19.
Defense attorney Michael Earle said Murray was a Marine who had just returned from Afghanistan when he started working for Alert Ambulance Network, and that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
``The military can't treat him,'' Earle said. ``What we're hoping to do is bridge the gap. Hopefully, this will get him the treatment he needs.''
Over the past year, Murray had several confrontations with his superiors, and on Aug. 21, the company suspended him for two days and scheduled a meeting for the following Monday, said Deputy District Attorney Harrison Kennedy.
Over that weekend, Murray choked a female ambulance dispatcher he was living and later tried to get back into the residence by pushing an air conditioner onto her, injuring her face, arms and legs, according to the prosecutor.
That Monday, the woman got to work before Murray and learned that company officials planned to fire him, Kennedy said.
She called Murray to alert him, and the defendant in turn called administrators and told them they would have to ``face his arsenal,'' the prosecutor said.
The woman then left work and called co-workers, telling them they should leave, too, because Murray was headed that way, according to the prosecutor.
She then met up with Murray, and police spotted the couple and made a traffic stop, finding four loaded semiautomatic weapons and 149 bullets in the trunk of his car, Kennedy said.
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