Boy held after dad's shooting
Public defenders Eric Olson, left, and Christina Larsen accompany their young client at a hearing Tuesday afternoon in the court of District Judge Stewart Stadler. The 11-year-old boy is in custody following the shooting death of his father on Monday night. Nate Chute/Daily Inter Lake
Emergency workers and law-enforcement officials were called Monday night to a trailer home in Kalispell where a man was found shot to death. Nick Ledden/Daily Inter Lake
Flathead County District Court Judge Stewart E. Stadler found sufficient cause during a hearing Tuesday afternoon to detain an 11-year-old Kalispell boy arrested in connection with the shooting death of his father.
Pale and uncertain, the small boy weathered the court appearance flanked by two attorneys.
According to an affidavit of probable cause briefly referred to during the hearing, the boy's mother identified him as the shooter. But the boy, whose mother denied investigators permission to interview him, has not admitted to pulling the trigger, prosecutors said.
Stadler ordered the boy held on $25,000 bail pending deliberate homicide charges from the Flathead County Attorney's Office. Charges could be filed as early as today.
The boy's name, which was not used in Tuesday's court proceedings, by law can't be released until he is formally charged.
"The problem always arises how to approach a significant case, a homicide, when a child, an 11-year-old, is the [alleged] perpetrator," Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan said. "It's a much more complicated problem with a young juvenile than with an adult, in most cases."
The boy's attorneys, public defenders Christina Larsen and Eric Olson, had no comment following the hearing.
According to authorities, Kalispell police responded to the report of an accidental shooting at a trailer home in the 300 block of College Avenue shortly after 6 p.m. Monday and found the body of 47-year-old Patrick Gretsch inside.
He had been shot once in the chest with a 20-gauge shotgun and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators suspect Gretsch was shot during a domestic disturbance with his wife. During the fight, which Kalispell Police Chief Roger Nasset said was verbal, the boy allegedly fired two rounds from the shotgun - one into the ceiling of the trailer and one into his father.
Nasset was unable to say whether the first blast was accidental or a warning shot, but investigators believe the second shot was deliberate.
Nasset said he didn't know what started the argument and that investigators are looking into whether Gretsch had a history of domestic violence.
The family had recently moved from the county into the city limits, and Kalispell police have had 'very little" contact with them, Nasset said.
Nasset declined to comment on whether Gretsch's wife was in any immediate physical danger when the shooting occurred.
Police responded to the residence after one of the couple's adult children, a 29-year-old man, called 911 to report Gretsch accidentally had been shot. The elder son was arrested Monday night for obstructing first responders but has not been charged, Nasset said.
Police interviewed family members who were in the trailer at the time and determined, through statements and physical evidence, that the incident was not accidental as initially reported.
The shotgun used in the shooting was kept in the residence, but Nasset was unsure whether the boy had any experience shooting it.
By statute, youths under 12 who are charged with certain crimes, including mitigated deliberate homicide, must be prosecuted in Youth Court.
The department's major case unit and detectives division are investigating the shooting.
Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com