MOSCOW, Idaho (AP) - It was a game of Russian roulette that led to the death of 18-year-old Tim Reeves while he and friends were camping in Idaho, witnesses said.
Friends, all juveniles, who were on the camping trip told the Latah County District Court on Wednesday that after a night of alcohol and marijuana use, Keagan Tennant pointed a rifle at Reeves. They said Reeves held a silver Smith and Wesson revolver and aimed it at Tennant, The Lewiston Tribune reported (https://bit.ly/2w3LE6c ).
Reeves began using racial slurs toward Tennant. before he fired and killed Reeves the morning of July 17, a witness said.
Witnesses accuse Tennant of then shooting one bullet at a stump and another near the head of a witness.
The witness said Tennant then yelled out, “Everyone needs to die; no witnesses.”
The witness said they then pleaded with Tennant, who put the gun down and began crying and rocking back and forth on the ground.
Tennant, 17, is charged as an adult.
Defendant Matthew McKetta, 18, was not at the campsite at the time of Reeves’ death, witnesses said. He was getting his father’s utility vehicle for hunting, which was eventually used to try and hide Reeves’ body, they said.
Tennant and McKetta wrapped Reeves’ body in a tarp and drove it into the woods where it was dumped, according to court documents.
The two defendants then stashed Reeves’ belongings in an abandoned house and said they wanted to burn any evidence with his blood on it, witnesses said.
The guns were stolen from McKetta’s adoptive father, Charlie McKetta, Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson said.
The two juvenile witnesses reported Reeves’ death to police the next day, but Tennant and McKetta fled the state. They were taken into custody about 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of the Canadian border in Curlew, Washington, where Tennant previously participated in a Job Corps program.
Tennant is accused of taking a white Pontiac Grand Prix at gunpoint from a Pizza Hut delivery driver in Moscow to flee the state.
Tennant faces seven felony charges, including involuntary manslaughter and attempted murder. He could be sentenced to 60 years to life in prison and as much as $230,000 in fines.
McKetta faces five felony charges, including concealment of evidence, and could be sentenced to 25 years to life in prison with fines of $130,000.
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Information from: Lewiston Tribune, https://www.lmtribune.com
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