Missoula 15-year-old charged with negligent homicide in teen girl's gun death

A 15-year-old Missoula boy has been charged with negligent homicide after he allegedly shot a teenage girl by accident on Saturday.

According to charging documents filed Wednesday in Missoula County District Court, on April 11 officers from the Missoula Police Department responded to reports that a 16-year-old girl had been shot in a residence on the 4900 block of Alex Lane.

Officers arrived and found the victim with a gunshot wound in her abdomen. Responders administered First Aid on the scene and she was transported to St. Patrick Hospital, where she succumbed to her injury.

According to charging documents, there were three teenagers and one 19-year-old, referred to in documents as D.S., also on the scene. The three younger teenagers are siblings, according to charging documents.

The Missoulian is not identifying the teen being charged because he is a minor.

The documents state that earlier in the evening, the youths had left the residence to get alcohol. D.S. said they picked up someone from the Poverello Center to buy them alcohol, dropped them back off, then went to the top of Rimel Road to drink. He said the handgun was his, and he kept it in the open in one of the cupholders of his car. The group was going to shoot the gun at a spot up Blue Mountain, but were unable to find any ammunition at D.S.'s stepfather's house, according to charging documents.

They then drove back to the Alex Lane residence. D.S. stated that he was still in his car when one of the teenagers, a 15-year-old boy, ran outside "saying something to the effect of 'I just accidentally shot [Doe],' " the documents state.

The boy told another member of the party to apply pressure to the wound. The 15-year-old and his sister then left the scene, as did D.S. who returned shortly after with his mother. D.S. told officers that he didn't know how the gun had left his car, according to a search warrant. It was back in his vehicle when officers arrived on the scene.

The two others who left the scene were found shortly afterward. The teen who allegedly fired the gun said the firearm had been sitting on a couch and he was playing with it, "thinking it was cool," when he pulled the trigger and the gun fired, according to the affidavit. The victim then said she thought she had been shot, he said. He dropped the gun and ran outside, he said, according to charging documents.

He has been charged with one count of negligent homicide. He will appear for arraignment on April 16. Bail was set at $50,000 and he was being held at the Missoula County Juvenile Detention Facility as of Wednesday morning.