An Air Force airman working in Wyoming appeared in court Tuesday on an involuntary manslaughter charge, filed on claims he shot another man through a bedroom wall while trying to clear a pistol early Saturday.
This marks the second known shooting death involving locally based airmen in the past month.
In a July 20 incident, airman Brayden Lovan, 21, died in a gunshot incident that first turned scrutiny onto the Sig Sauer M18 pistol, but then resulted in one person being arrested for involuntary manslaughter, according to statements from 90th Missile Wing officials.
Tuesday Court
On Tuesday, Cheyenne Circuit Court Judge Antoinette Williams set a $500,000 cash-only bond in the case of 20-year-old Jadan Orr, of the Virgin Islands, after a prosecutor spoke of the “blatant senselessness" of the alleged shooting.
On the other hand, said the prosecutor, Orr has "minimal criminal history."
Laramie County District Attorney Deputy William Edelman on Monday filed one count of involuntary manslaughter against Orr. That’s punishable by up to 20 years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines.
A base spokesman confirmed Tuesday to Cowboy State Daily that Orr was stationed with the 90th Missile Wing, which is stationed at F.E. Warren Air Force base.
“Our thoughts are with the family, friends, and teammates affected by this tragic loss,” said Col. Terry Holmes, 90th Missile Wing commander, in the Tuesday email statement. “We are fully supporting the investigation and remain committed to taking care of our Airmen and their families during this extremely difficult time.”
The Long Night
An attached affidavit by Cheyenne Police Department Detective Jeffrey Cover says police were called to an apartment on Walterscheid Boulevard in Cheyenne at around 3:21 a.m. Saturday, due to a report that someone had been shot.
There, the affidavit says, officers found Orr and another man, age 23, standing outside the home near Orr’s silver Dodge Charger (which had Wyoming plates), helping the 23-year-old shooting victim, Joshua Aragon, who leaned against the car.
Medical personnel arrived on scene and took over first-aid measures.
Aragon was pronounced dead at the scene at about 3:40 a.m.
The 23-year-old man who’d been helping with the first aid gave police a witness interview.
He said he and Aragon had lived at that apartment together, and that they, Orr, and two women (ages 21 and 20) had gone out together the prior evening, and returned to the apartment for more drinking, says the document.
The 23-year-old witness, Orr, and the 20-year-old woman decided they wanted to go to McDonald’s – at about 3 a.m.
Orr and the 21-year-old woman didn’t want to join, because they’d been drinking, the affidavit says.
The three who wanted McDonald’s went out to the car, but soon decided against visiting the restaurant, because they’d been drinking, wrote Cover.
So they returned to the apartment.
Inside, the three found Aragon sitting with the 20-year-old woman on the living room couch, the witness told police.
This upset Orr, the witness added.
The trio who had just walked in retreated to the witness’s bedroom “so Orr could vent,” the affidavit recounts.
While in the witness’s bedroom, Orr, “picked up” the witness’s “AK47 style pistol, pulled the bolt carrier group back, released it forward closing the chamber, and pulled the trigger, discharging a round through the bedroom wall,” Cover’s affidavit relates from the witness interview.
The round hit Aragon, who’d been on the couch with the 20-year-old woman, the document adds.
Orr, the witness and the 21-year-old woman went out to the living room area to find Aragon shot, and bleeding, the witness told police.
The witness and Orr carried Aragon outside to Orr’s Dodge Charger, in the hopes of driving him to the hospital, while the 20-year-old woman called 911, the document adds.
Miranda Rights
The affidavit says police read Orr his Miranda rights then interviewed him.
Orr said he, the witness and the 21-year-old woman went to the witness’s room “to hang out” after deciding not to drive to McDonald’s.
Orr said that the witness handed him the pistol “for an unknown reason,” related Cover from that interview.
Orr took the pistol, pulled the carrier group back, looked for a round in the chamber – didn’t see any – then closed the chamber, pulling the trigger to make sure the pistol was unloaded, according to his account of the incident, given in the affidavit.
He expected to hear a click, he told police, but instead heard a loud bang as the pistol fired a round through the wall, into the living room.
“Orr explained the way he ‘cleared’ the pistol was the way he was trained by the Air Force to clear an AR-15 style rifle,” Cover wrote. “Orr said he was not very familiar with the AK47 style pistol, only that he had fired that very pistol with (the witness) the weekend prior to this event.”
Orr told police he didn’t intend to fire the pistol, or to kill Aragon, the detective added.
Woman’s Interview
The 21-year-old woman described the incident this way: Orr picked up the pistol, racked the action, pulled the trigger and fired a round.
She said the muzzle of the pistol was facing her and was near her face when Orr fired, but she was not injured. She and the other witness went out to the living room and found Aragon shot, and they carried him outside while the 20-year-old woman called 911, the woman added.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
