Trial begins for Whitefish shooting suspect

County Attorney Travis Ahner opened his case against accused killer Steven Hedrick on Tuesday by asking jurors to hold the 33-year-old responsible for turning an argument over noise with a neighbor in a Whitefish extended stay hotel last year into a deadly shooting.

“You can't bring a gun to a fistfight,” Ahner said in his opening statement in Flathead County District Court on Jan. 16. “And even more so you can’t bring a gun to a verbal argument. You can’t bring a gun in order to shut somebody up, and you can’t bring a loaded and cocked gun and point it at a hopelessly intoxicated man, inches from his face, without addressing and facing the consequence of that action.”

Hedrick faces one count of felony deliberate homicide for the shooting death of neighbor Jeffery Brookshire in the early morning hours of Jan. 24, 2023. He pleaded not guilty before Judge Amy Eddy at his arraignment last year and plans to mount an affirmative defense — arguing that the shooting was justified — according to documents filed in district court.