13-year-old arraigned on additional charges from Nov. 3 shooting
The 13-year-old accused of shooting a 17-year-old near McDonald’s last month was arraigned Dec. 4 in youth court on additional charges related to the incident.
The charges had been filed in November and include felony counts of attempted deliberate homicide and tampering with evidence, and a misdemeanor count of assault.
The Cascade County Attorney’s Office is also pursuing a gang enhancement for sentencing, which can add one to three years to a sentence, if convicted.
It’s the first time Cascade County Attorney Josh Racki can remember his office pursuing that provision of state law.
The boy, who turns 14 this month, entered a not guilty plea before Judge Elizabeth Best.
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He appeared by Zoom from the Cascade County Juvenile Detention Center.
His transfer hearing is currently set for Jan. 8, which Best said is when the court will consider whether to keep his case in youth court or move it to adult court.
The 13-year-old was arrested for disorderly conduct in October, and in a Juvenile Detention Center questionnaire, he claimed to be a “regular member” of a specific local gang that had about 10 members. He also has tattoos with known gang references, according to charging documents.
He also has previous charges of theft and obstructing pending in youth court.
Both the 13-year-old and 12-year-old charged in the Nov. 3 shooting remain in the JDC.
The updated 36-page charging documents details more of the Nov. 3 incident, notably the witness statement that the 17-year-old had stabbed the 13-year-old alleged shooter was unsubstantiated and prosecutors wrote that it was unknown why the witness claimed she saw the victim with a knife or if he didn in fact have a knife. No other knives were located at the scene or on the victim and no other witness claimed to have seen him with a knife.
On Nov. 3, officers responded around 1:50 p.m. to the area of the McDonald’s on 10th Avenue South for reports of a fight, followed by additional information that someone heard a gunshot and someone had walked into McDonald’s with a gunshot wound, saying it had happened in the parking lot.
The 17-year-old is recovering from his injuries, according to the Cascade County Attorney’s Office.
Medical staff at the Benefis Health System Emergency Department told investigators that the bullet narrowly missed his heart and later determined it had also narrowly missed his spine and collapsed one of his lungs.
The 13-year-old alleged shooter was located with another known juvenile gang member, who is 16 and was sentenced to Pine Hills, the Montana Department of Corrections’ juvenile facility, in November. The boys were with two females.
The group matched the description of those involved in the McDonald’s incident and the one sentenced to Pine Hills had blood on him and a laceration on his right thumb. He initially claimed to have cut himself on a fence, but later said in an interview that he and two other juvenile’s, including the alleged shooter, had gone to McDonald’s to confront the victim over an incident of him punching one of the boys a few weeks prior, according to charging documents.
Cascade County Attorney Josh Racki said no charges were filed in relation to that incident and he didn’t believe it had been reported to law enforcement.
The 16-year-old later told investigators that he had punched the victim in the back of the head and that’s how he cut his hand. The punch led to an altercation between the victim and the group, which fled, and the victim pursued with bear spray, according to charging documents.
He told investigators that as they were fleeing, he heard a gunshot and when he met up with the others, the 13-year-old alleged shooter had a gun that he tossed before being contacted by police, according to charging documents.
The 16-year-old told investigators that the 13-year-old had said “I show him but not sure if I hit him because he sprayed me,” referring to the bear spray, according to court documents.
During an interview, investigators noted that the 13-year-old’s clothing was saturated with what appeared to be bear spray and he gave inconsistent statements, initially claiming he was sprayed by a random person, but eventually admitted to being sprayed by the victim, according to charging documents.
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He denied shooting the victim or having a firearm.
One of the females told investigators that she saw the 13-year-old, her boyfriend, pull a gun from his waistband and point it at the victim, who was spraying bear spray, according to charging documents.
She said the two rounded a building corner and she heard a gunshot.
Detectives reviewed the security footage from McDonald’s which showed, according to court documents:
- the 13-year-old alleged shooter and three females are inside McDonald’s when the victim walks in and begins ordering food
- the group appears to notice the victim and the 13-year-old appears to make a phone call
- the group looks out the window as if watching for someone
- on the outside cameras, six males, including at least three known juvenile gang members, are seen approaching from an apartment at the Phoenix
- on approach, the 12-year-old charged in the incident appears to be holding something bulky in his sweatshirt pocket, which investigators wrote was possibly a gun based on his history of carrying concealed weapons
- four of the males, including the two charged in the incident, go into the bathroom
- when they emerge, the victim is handing cash to a cashier and the 16-year-old sentenced to Pine Hills punches him in the face, appearing to make contact with the victim’s mouth, causing the cut to his right thumb
- the victim turns around and is attacked by the boys who continue to punch him inside the McDonald’s
- the victim fights back and the fight moves outside, with the six males eventually fleeing toward the Phoenix Apartments, but fail to gain access to an apartment
- the victim gets in his vehicle and drives toward the Phoenix Apartments, exits and follows the group southbound along the 1800 block of 9th Avenue South
- as the group is running, the 13-year-old alleged shooter appears to be closest to the victim and reaching in a backwards manner consistent with pointing a gun
- the victim appears to flinch while the 13-year-old is pointing at him and the group rounds a corner going east along the south portion of a building
- the males go in different directions with the victim and alleged shooter going out of sight behind a vehicle
- seconds later, the victim emerges walking westbound along the building holding his chest, then walks into the McDonald’s and can be seen holding his chest and bleeding from the right side of his lip
Detectives also viewed surveillance footage from a residence behind the Phoenix Apartments that shows the same events from a different angle.
In this footage, it appears the victim began chasing the males after he exited his vehicle but never appeared to catch them or make contact, according to court documents.
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As the 13-year-old rounds the southeast corner of a building and runs northbound, after the victim is shot, he appears to have something small in his right hand that he puts back in his sweatshirt pocket before running eastbound. The victim never rounds the corner, further supporting “that the person closest to [the victim] at the time he was shot was [the 13-year-old],” according to the charging documents.
The victim told investigators that he didn’t know why he was attacked but recognized one of the males as his cousin.
The victim said that he chased the group and sprayed the male closest to him with bear spray as they were running. As they rounded the corner, he said the juvenile turned and pointed a handgun at him from 1.5 to 2 feet away, shot him, and continued running, according to court documents.
Detectives examined the victim’s injury and noted that the exit wound on his back was oblong, indicating that the bullet had destabilized prior to exiting his back, according to court documents.
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On Nov. 4, investigators found a small black handgun behind a piece of tin in a yard in the vicinity of the incident that had one cartridge in the chamber, which contained a full metal jacket copper plated bullet.
On Nov. 5, detectives returned to the scene and located a bullet defect on a vehicle parked along 18th Street South that was directly west of the south wall of the building, indicating the bullet was fired almost directly west, according to court documents. Detectives noted the bullet impression in the defect was oblong, indicating it was destabilized and based on their training and experience, that meant it likely struck another surface before hitting the vehicle.
Detectives located a fired bullet in the roadway just below the vehicle that was deformed along its side that was a full metal jacket with copper plating, consistent with the recovered handgun.
Based on the angle of the shot and positioning of the boys involved, “the only plausible explanation” is that the 13-year-old fired the shot that struck the victim, according to court documents.
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The 13-year-old allegedly coordinated the attack, participated by punching the victim multiple times and when the victim approached with “non-lethal” bear spray, he shot the victim at close-range.
“The shot was not lethal, but narrowly avoided life ending injury. Shooting at an unarmed (bear spray is not a weapon) person from close range and aiming at the chest is an action that has a high likelihood of causing death to another human being,” according to court documents.
On. Nov. 5, detectives were notified that the victim had received multiple harassing Instagram messages that mock him for being shot and threaten his life, that reference gang activity, according to court documents.
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During their investigation, detectives noted that “there has been no indication at this point that [the victim] has been involved in gang activity,” based on information from school resource officers, Great Falls Police officers heavily involved in tracking gang activity, interviews with juveniles, and from the victim himself, according to court documents.
The victim has been stabbed, shot and threatened with a firearm in previous cases, involving known gang members, making it “apparent that [the gang members] have been targeting [the victim] for some time,” according to court documents.
