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17-Year-Old Charged in Fatal Shooting Pleads Not Guilty

The charges allege that the boy was handling his friend's new gun and fired it when challenged that he would not

By Associated Press

BILLINGS – A 17-year-old accused of killing a fellow teenager inside a friend’s bedroom earlier this month has pleaded not guilty to deliberate homicide.

The boy had been charged in the shooting death of Dacey Cheyenne Moore, 17, the Billings Gazette reported Tuesday. The charges allege that the boy was handling his friend’s new gun on Dec. 6 and fired it at Moore when challenged that he would not.

Though the boy is being charged as an adult, The Associated Press does not typically name minors accused of crimes.

The boy can still argue for the case to be moved to youth court. His bail is set at $500,000.

A different 16-year-old boy whose bedroom the group was hanging out in told police in an interview after the killing that he had purchased a semi-automatic pistol on Dec. 5 and that the defendant was with him.

Police said they later found out the gun was stolen.

The 16-year-old boy, the defendant and another 15-year-old boy were hanging out in the 16-year-old’s bedroom on the night of Dec. 5 and into Dec. 6, the charges said. The three were drinking and at times handling the new pistol, the charges said.

The 16-year-old said he left the pistol’s loaded magazine when they left the house to pick up Moore. The 16-year-old told police that once the group was back in the bedroom, the defendant retrieved the pistol and pointed it at Moore. He then said that Moore jokingly told the defendant that he would not shoot.

When police arrived on the scene at around 5 a.m., the defendant asked to be put in handcuffs and said “I killed her” several times, according to the charging documents.