BILLINGS — A 14-year-old Billings boy has been charged with two felonies after allegedly shooting a 16-year-old at Lake Elmo State Park in October.
In Yellowstone County District Court documents, witnesses say the defendant and victim agreed to meet at Lake Elmo the night of Oct. 19 to settle their differences. The 16-year-old allegedly pushed the 14-year-old down an embankment. The 14-year-old then pulled out a stolen .45-caliber Sig Sauer P220 handgun and fired one shot at the victim. The defendant then climbed back up the embankment and fired one more shot at the 16-year-old before fleeing on foot.
Officers responded to a call minutes later and located the victim with an apparent gunshot wound. The victim was transported by ambulance to a hospital and taken into surgery.
Later that night, the defendant turned himself into police at his nearby home without incident and admitted to hiding the gun and his cell phone in a ditch. The recovered gun matched the serial number of a gun that had been reported stolen from the same area on Aug. 6.
The defendant has been charged with assault with a weapon and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence - both felonies - as well as misdemeanor theft.
