Lt. Gov. John Fetterman on Thursday rebuffed criticism stemming from a 2013 decision to grab his 20-gauge shotgun and chase after someone he thought might be a shooter on the run but turned out to be an unarmed jogger.

The incident resurfaced this week with the ambitious, progressive Democrat’s newly announced bid for the U.S. Senate — and Fetterman appeared prepared to respond via a professionally produced campaign ad followed by a blog post.

Fetterman, 51, referring to the incident that happened while he was Braddock mayor, denied ever pointing his gun at the man, who was Black, and rejected speculation that what he did that afternoon in late January 2013 had anything to do with race.

Fetterman’s campaign referred to the candidate’s written post in response to a request for an interview.

“Since 2015, political adversaries have tried to portray an episode from eight years ago as being racially motivated,” Fetterman, who is white, wrote in a blog post published to Medium on Thursday. “The facts, circumstances, and greater context of that encounter all support that race played no role.

“In my community of Braddock — a town that is 80% Black — the people know me, they know my heart, and they know that’s not what this situation was about.”

So what happened in 2013?

Fetterman said he had no idea of the race nor gender of the person dressed in black, wearing a face mask, goggles and “bundled head to toe in the dead of winter,” when he pursued the North Braddock man and thwarted him from leaving the area until police arrived shortly after 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 26, 2013.

While with his then-4-year-old son, Fetterman had just called 911 after hearing what sounded like “a crushing burst of gunfire” not far from his Braddock home on Library Street, then spotted the person, whom police later identified as a passing jogger, running toward an elementary school. Fetterman said he maintained a distance of “almost 15 feet between us at all times.”

“I had my gun with me, because I had just heard those shots,” Fetterman wrote about the incident on Thursday. “But at no point did I ever point it at anyone. Period.”

RELATED: Braddock mayor says he’s justified in pulling shotgun after hearing noise like gunshots

Days after the incident, Fetterman told the Trib that he had no regrets regarding how he handled “a very confusing and scary situation.”At the time, Fetterman acknowledged he had shells in the magazine of the shotgun he pulled from his truck, but he said the chamber was empty and he kept the safety on.

The man told police that he was a jogger, officers found no weapons on him and no charges were filed.

The 28-year-old North Braddock man told police that while jogging he saw three children playing with bottle rockets that could have accounted for the sounds, but Fetterman asserted that he knew “the difference between fireworks and gunshots.”

Campaign aims to get ahead of controversy

The campaign ad released earlier this week demonstrates that Fetterman’s campaign had a hunch questions regarding the years-old incident likely were coming — preparation that could help his chances at getting ahead of the controversy, political experts told the Tribune-Review.

“He established a context about what happened and why he reacted the way he did,” said Berwood Yost, director of the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College. “He basically told his story, and some people are going to believe it.

“Some people are going to think that it’s disingenuous, some people will think it’s a non-apology. Any candidate has to frame a response in a way that they’re comfortable with and that they can defend and speak to honestly,” Yost said. “As people judge his response, they’re going to come at it from a lot of angles, but what’s most important for him is that he has addressed the issue.”

What Fetterman did — and didn’t — say in the targeted ad spurred staunch criticism among some online commenters, community activists and other observers.

In a scathing commentary, Very Smart Brothas editor-in-chief Damon Young suggested that “Fetterman’s savior status appears to have gone to his head.”

“Predictably, the shotgun story has resurfaced,” Young, who also is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times, wrote in a piece published Thursday. “This would appear to be an easy opportunity to express sincere contrition, reflect on how much he’s learned and grown since then, and even insert a line or two about ‘unconscious bias’ or ‘white privilege’ or whatever. He could’ve even released one of those non-apology apology statements, where he says …. ‘I acted hastily’ or ‘it was a regrettable thing’ or ‘mistakes were made.’

“But Fetterman has done neither and has gone as far as to blame ‘a bunch of Republicans who have never given a damn about racial justice’ for the resurfacing of this story — a shockingly myopic statement that ignores the fact that many of his Black constituents want answers from him too.”

Maybe Fetterman “sincerely believes he did no wrong,” or perhaps he “believes an apology would show a weakness that the GOP would pounce on,” Young wrote in his opinion piece.

“Either way,” said Young, “Fetterman is exhibiting an abject lack of consideration and care for the Black people in his state.”

In the newly released campaign video, it takes about 52 seconds until Fetterman directly addresses the incident in question. The ad begins with footage of Fetterman walking the streets of Braddock while explaining why he has the dates of deaths of people from his community lost to gun violence tattooed on his forearm.

It transitions into a barrage of news clips of shootings in the Braddock area followed by a teary-eyed Fetterman talking about witnessing gun violence firsthand. Then he discusses his mindset during the 2013 incident.

“I realized that I could never forgive myself if I didn’t do anything, and something terrible would have happened,” Fetterman said. “As mayor, I always believed it was my duty and obligation to protect and safeguard my community, and that’s exactly the place where I was coming from.”

In his blog post, Fetterman did not apologize specially for what transpired, but he wrote that he recognizes “the undeniable truth of the hurt, history, and trauma in Black and Brown communities around profiling and recognize the justified outrage and anger.”

“This was always my objective as mayor, so if I ever fell short of that, I apologize,” Fetterman wrote.

He included in his blog post a photo of an AK-47 rifle he says his wife found in his backyard while walking their dog with their son — which Fetterman says demonstrates a “small part of the truth of guns and gun violence I’ve confronted in Braddock over the past 20 years.”

Senate candidates should expect scrutiny

Fetterman is an early candidate to emerge in what observers say is sure to be crowded field for U.S. Senate. All candidates should be prepared to undergo severe scrutiny with the potential for national headlines as Fetterman’s past has this week, Yost said.

It’s unclear whether a Democrat or Republican will replace 18-year incumbent U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, a Lehigh Valley Republican, who announced in October he will not seek reelection.

“When you’re running a race like the Senate where so much is at stake, your record is going to be scrutinized, and your opponents within the party are going to raise issues that they think will differentiate them from his candidacy,” Yost said. “This is one of those races that’s going to be a toss-up seat, so we can expect this kind of scrutiny for any candidate on either side as we move into 2022.”

For now, according to Yost, Fetterman’s campaign — whose platform includes issues such as reducing gun violence, holding police accountable, legalizing marijuana, raising the minimum wage and mitigating climate change — should focus on winning over Pennsylvania’s progressives in hopes of securing the Democratic nomination. In terms of campaign donations, he appears to be off to a solid start, Yost said.

“He’s raised more than $1 million, he’s got an online fundraising presence that’s generating money from small donors, and he seems to have some pretty sizeable campaign infrastructure in place,” Yost said.“I think he’s going to be a formidable candidate, but what’s really going to matter is the context in which the election is taking place and how many candidates get into the race.”

As for whether the 2013 incident involving Fetterman and the jogger will matter to voters at the polls, it’s too early to tell.

“We are a long way from a primary and from a general election,” Yost said. “So whether this (controversy) has staying power or not, we’ll see.”

Here’s what Fetterman had to say about the Jan. 26, 2013 incident:

“So here’s what happened. Eight years ago, I was outside with my 4-year-old son when I heard a loud burst of gunfire. You can’t live in a town like Braddock and not know exactly what gunfire sounds like. It was coming from a corridor in front of our home that’s been the site of countless shootings. Two other individuals stopped police and said they heard shots coming from that area as well.

“I saw a lone individual in a full face mask running from the vicinity of the gunfire. There was only one person in the area and between the face mask and the way this person was dressed, bundled head to toe in the dead of winter, I didn’t know what race that individual was, or even their gender.

“The individual was running towards our local elementary school — and this was in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary child massacre.

“After quickly securing my son, I called 911, and made a decision to intercept the person and ask them to hold there until the first responders could arrive. I stayed at my truck and maintained a distance of almost 15 feet between us at all times. I had my gun with me, because I had just heard those shots. But at no point did I ever point it at anyone. Period.

“The truth, then and now, whether it’s a small town like Braddock or a major city like Philadelphia, is we have a significant gun violence problem in our commonwealth and nation.

“We must have an honest dialogue about this. This is one of the reasons I’m running on my 20 year record for the United States Senate.”

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