Suspect in deadly Whitefish shooting takes witness stand

The man accused of killing Jeffery Brookshire in the hallway of an extended-stay motel in Whitefish last year told jurors on Thursday that Brookshire’s behavior before the fatal shooting left him frightened. 

“I was scared he was going to attack me,” said Steven Justin Hedrick, recounting the lead up to the deadly encounter for defense attorney Amanda Gordon in Flathead County District Court.

Prosecutors brought Hedrick, 33, up on a felony deliberate homicide charge in the wake of Brookshire’s death. County Attorney Travis Ahner, who is prosecuting the case, has argued that Hedrick committed felony assault with a weapon when he leveled a cocked and loaded handgun at Brookshire in the early morning hours of Jan. 24. That the gun went off and killed Brookshire precipitated the homicide charge.