HELENA, Mont. (AP) - Officers have arrested the man suspected of fatally shooting another man at a motel early Wednesday, Helena police said.
Brandon James LeClair, 41, fled the Motel 6 after the shooting and was arrested about 12 hours later and 30 miles away in Boulder, according to police.
LeClair was reportedly fighting with Kenneth Purcell, 31, when Purcell was shot in the motel’s parking lot just before 1 a.m., court records said.
A woman who had traveled from Butte to Helena with LeClair on Tuesday told investigators that the two men were fighting in a motel room when Purcell hit LeClair on the head with a whiskey bottle and then kicked him, court records said. She said the two took the fight outside and then she heard a gunshot. She did not witness the shooting, but saw LeClair run away, court records said.
Investigators found a spent 9 mm casing next to Purcell and a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol in the parking lot around the corner, court records said. Purcell also had been carrying a magazine for a semi-automatic weapon, officers said.
Justice of the Peace Michael Swingley issued the deliberate homicide warrant for LeClair on Wednesday morning, setting his bond at $250,000. He was arrested Wednesday afternoon.
LeClair was convicted in federal court in 1999 for possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute and was sentenced to just over three years in prison. In 2007, he pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and was sentenced to five years in federal prison.
He had two other current arrest warrants, one which was issued after LeClair failed to appear in court in early November for a felony drug possession charge, Deer Lodge County court records show.
Purcell had a 2009 conviction for criminal distribution of dangerous drugs in Silver Bow County, according to state records.
Officers arrested the witness - 30-year-old Travis Holly Stephens - on suspicion of felony criminal possession of methamphetamine, the Independent Record (bit.ly/2jqJ8n0) reported.
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Information from: Independent Record, https://www.helenair.com
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