Federal charges have been filed against a man accused of shooting another over a song on a pickup truck radio.
Ronald Blaise Jenkins was charged Wednesday in U.S. District Court with assault with a dangerous weapon and assault resulting in serious bodily injury in connection with a shooting that occurred on the Wind River Indian Reservation in January.
According to an affidavit filed by Michael Shockley, a Bureau of Indian Affairs special agent, his investigation into the shooting of a man identified only as “W.S.” revealed that the shooting occurred as the result of a disagreement over a song on the radio.
According to the affidavit, Shockley learned W.S. had been riding in a pickup truck with three other men, including Jenkins, drinking alcohol and listening to music on the radio.
Two of the men said W.S. and Jenkins began arguing about a song on the radio and then prepared to fight over the issue.
The two said at that point, Jenkins shot W.S.
Jenkins told investigators W.S. had played a song on the radio he did not like and the two began arguing. He said W.S. got out of the back seat of the pickup truck, opened the door to the seat where Jenkins was sitting and punched him in the face.
Jenkins said he had broken his neck several years earlier and the attack made him afraid for his life. He said he found a gun on the floor of the pickup truck and was pointing it at W.S. when “it just went off.”
W.S., meanwhile, told investigators he did not remember what the argument was about, but that both he and Jenkins got out of the truck and were preparing to fight when Jenkins pulled a pistol.
W.S. said he charged Jenkins in an attempt to take the pistol away from him, but he was unsuccessful and Jenkins fired the weapon.
The affidavit said W.S. was helped into the emergency room at SageWest Hospital in Riverton by two men who then left and did not return.
