Police investigate after teen shoots friend through window
By MATTHEW BROWN
May. 19, 2015 5:56 PM EDT
Billings Police Department Lt. Jeremy House walks past the house where a 15-year-old boy was shot and killed earlier in the morning, Sunday, May 17, 2015. A Montana boy startled at being awakened in the middle of the night fired a shot through his bedroom window and killed the 15-year-old friend who had been knocking and throwing pebbles at his window, police said Monday. (Hannah Potes/The Billings Gazette via AP)
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Authorities are considering whether to bring criminal charges against a Montana 17-year-old who fired a bullet through his bedroom window, killing his friend in a case that an investigator described as an accident.
The unidentified suspect had been startled when 15-year-old Mackeon Schulte and another friend knocked on his window early Sunday, Billings Police Capt. John Bedford said.
The alarmed teen grabbed a handgun described as a family heirloom and shot through the glass, striking Schulte in the head, Bedford said.
Police are investigating the shooting as a homicide, but Bedford said criminal charges run the risk of "compounding a horrible situation."
"We're not going to rush to judgment," he said. "There's enough damage that's already been done."
Prosecutors are planning a lengthy review, Yellowstone County Attorney Scott Twito said.
The victim's family could not be reached for comment.
Neighbors said the suspect and his family had lived in the single-story house where the shooting took place for many years.
The house was badly damaged in a fire last August, forcing the family to live elsewhere until they recently moved back in, according to neighbors and authorities.
The suspect was described as friendly youth who was willing to help others on the street shovel their walks in the winter.
"He's a great kid, and it's a really nice family," said next-door-neighbor Emily Duncan. "We're just sad they're going through this."
