The victim of what investigators believe was an unplanned but reckless Saturday-morningshooting in Cheyenne was, like the alleged shooter, also an airman stationed at the F.E. Warren Air Force base, the military branch reports.
The 90th Missile Wing, which serves at the local Air Force base, released a statement Tuesday about the shooting death of Senior Airman Joshua Aragon, who was a security forces specialist assigned to the 790th Missile Security Forces Squadron of the 90th Missile Wing.
Aragon joined the Air Force on April 19, 2022, and had been assigned to F.E. Warren since Oct. 19, 2022, the statement says.
“We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Senior Airman Aragon,” said Col. Terry Holmes, 90th Missile Wing commander. “He was a valued member of our defender team, and his passing leaves a tremendous void. Our thoughts are with his family, friends, and fellow Airmen as we grieve this heartbreaking loss.”
Aragon was 23, court documents say.
Like Aragon, the alleged shooter was also serving at F.E. Warren.
Airman 1st Class Jadan Orr, 20, was arrested Saturday morning and charged Monday with involuntary manslaughter.
The charge is based on the theory that Orr discharged a weapon “recklessly,” killing Aragon. It’s punishable by up to 20 years in prison and $10,000 in fines.
“The 90th Missile Wing is fully cooperating with (the Cheyenne Police Department’s) efforts,” says the Air Force wing’s statement.
This marks the second shooting death involving local airmen in the past month.
90th Security Forces Squadron defender Brayden Lovan, 21, died in a July 20 shooting incident that initially prompted scrutiny of the Sig Sauer M18 handgun by the Air Force.
A person, who has not been publicly identified,has since been arrested on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter in that case, base officials say.
The Long Night
An evidentiary 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 on 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 helping 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, then 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.
Aragon 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 “AK-47-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 and 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 AK-47-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.
