Ya'll lower 48ers are so weird... If someone threatens you with anything that can cause bodily harm you're authorized to shoot them up here. Yet here's this thread whining that a guy shot the ground, not even shooting at the punk, just firing a warning shot. There are no warning shots in Alaska, just sayin.
Shooting at the ground in front of a group of people seems pretty dangerous. If the bullet ricochets it might hit an innocent person. I don't know if it could be convincingly argued that the guy with the makeshift flame-thrower was seriously threatening anyone at the time the man shot; perhaps that will be the shooter's defense? Whatever the case, from what I read he's being charged with discharging a firearm within 1000 feet of a school.
It certainly "could", but it most likely can't. Based on the plants growing in that area the dirt is a loamy type which sucks bullets deep. That being said the asshat that pulled the trigger needs to be arrested for discharge of a firearm in public. That is a crime. He was not in fear for his life, so the shot was not justified.
~shrug~ I don't know the state/muni laws there. Up here you can shoot someone for threatening you (and no the discharge of weapons within city limits law does /not/ apply when you're defending yourself, your family, your friends, your property, your families property, or even your friends property when you're a guest, etc. Up here a typical judge would consider that situation as self defense and they'd probably be more likely to praise the guy for not shooting him than to admonish him for shooting the ground. Different country up here I suppose.
The only situation I can think of where the warning shot would be considered "in the wrong" is like... well up here you can shoot someone if they're like running from the cops (we're kind of vigilante in a way, but then not because we're heavy military and frankly chronically low on officers so it's kind of "expected" that you'll assist an officer, but it's not required or anything.) Anyway so it can get a bit fuzzy if you miss in the course of assisting the officers to take down a shooting or fleeing criminal. If your aims good then you get accolades from the public for helping out, but if you miss then there might be a "risk" fine or penalty for "discharge in city limits" or "reckless discharge" kind of laws. Generally speaking, the only reason we even have those laws up here is because it lets us tack more years on to criminal's sentences and thus keep them off the street longer, it's not something that would typically be applied to "everyone" - I suppose you could almost call it a "discriminatory" law in that it typically only applies to criminals vs folks who go out in the woods to practice shooting their guns or something. Then again, we have a crap ton more space and wild areas than most cities and we're a crap ton more used to guns than most urban yahoos. (We're at 70-75% carry in the city, 90% outside it...)