KKK member gets 4 years for firing gun at 2017 'Unite the Right' rally

Aug. 22 (UPI) -- A Ku Klux Klan member will serve four years in prison for firing a gun during last year's "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va.

Richard Preston, 53, was sentenced to eight years with four years suspended for discharging a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school, the Daily Progress in Charlottesville reported. Preston pleaded no contest to the charge in May.

During the incident, which was caught on video, Preston yelled out a racial slur before firing his weapon in the direction of Corey Long, a black counterprotester who was lighting a makeshift flamethrower with an aerosol can.

Nobody was injured in the shooting.

Preston's attorney, Elmer Woodard, argued that Preston was in danger from the flames of Long's aerosol can flamethrower, but Judge Richard E. Moore said the video showed Preston was not in danger of the flames and his demeanor before firing his gun was not that of self-defense.

"This whole thing was driven by anger and belligerence, not fear," Moore said. "I don't find you were saving anyone's life."

Long was convicted of disorderly conduct in June and is appealing that verdict.

Preston, of Maryland, is a self-described imperial wizard of the KKK.