Accused of shooting his pre-teen son in the arm while trying to wrench a gun away from his wife, a Pavillion man now faces a felony child abuse charge.
Fremont County Attorney Patrick LeBrun charged Derrin Jay Albrandt, 47, with one count of felony child abuse Monday. The charge, premised on the theory that Albrandt recklessly injured his 12-year-old son, is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Travis Bench, a Fremont County Sheriff’s Office deputy, responded at about 10:34 p.m. Friday to a home in Pavillion for a report of a child who had suffered a gunshot wound, according to his own evidentiary affidavit filed Monday in the case.
When Bench arrived at the home and couldn’t find anyone. He also learned a “personal vehicle” had taken the child to Riverton’s SageWest Health Care.
As he looked around the home ,Bench didn’t see any “obvious crime scene,” the affidavit says. So he went to the hospital.
And It Went Off
Bench met with Albrandt at the hospital.
Albrandt told Bench he’d gotten into a verbal argument with his wife, the affidavit relates.
He got upset during the argument, grabbed a .40-caliber Smith and Wesson and cocked a round into the chamber. He then handed the gun to his wife and told her to shoot him, the document alleges.
The woman started waving the gun around “frantically,” Albrandt told the deputy, so he went to grab it back from her. But, the affidavit says, the gun went off, striking Albrandt’s 12-year-old son in the left biceps muscle.
Albrandt told Bench he then took the gun apart and left it on the kitchen counter as they left the home.
Bench smelled a strong scent of alcohol while talking with Albrandt, the affidaivt says. The deputy asked Albrandt how much he’d drunk that night.
“Too much,” Albrandt allegedly replied.
Bench detained Albrandt in his patrol vehicle, then went on to interview Albrandt’s wife.
Sleeping On The Loveseat
Albrandt’s wife said she started an argument with her husband because he came home drunk, the affidavit says.
Albrandt grabbed the gun and handed it to her, she continued, and she took it and held it behind her back to keep it away from him.
He then “decided” to take the gun back, the affidavit alleges, and forced it out of the wife’s hands behind her back.
“Albrandt fired the gun, striking (his son) in the left arm,” the affidavit relates from the wife’s interview.
The incident happened in the home’s family room. The boy had been sleeping next to Albrandt’s wife in the loveseat at that time, the affidavit says.
From Jail
Bench appeared virtually in Riverton Circuit Court on Monday from the Fremont County Detention Center, according to his case file. The court set a $30,000 cash or surety bond.
The case is ongoing.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
