CASPER — A 19-year-old Casper man apologized in Natrona County District Court Tuesday for his reckless actions with a .40-caliber Glock pistol on Feb. 12, 2025, that resulted in a bullet being fired into the head of his 16-year-old friend, Riley Sears, killing him.
“I want to apologize to everyone,” Luka Rasmussen told Judge Kerri Johnson and members of the Sears family sitting in the courtroom. “Obviously, I took away a son and a grandson … I lost a friend as well. I just want to take full responsibility for what I have done.”
Johnson sentenced Rasmussen to 10 - 16 years in prison for the single involuntary manslaughter charge he faced stemming from the shooting death in a home on the 4000 block of E. 8th Street in Casper. Rasmussen, Sears and the 17-year-old boy who lived at the home gathered to smoke marijuana and play video games, according to a police affidavit.
Court records indicated that Rasmussen, Sears, and the 17-year-old all had weapons.
In court Tuesday, Natrona County District Attorney Dan Itzen asked the judge for a sentence of between 14-16 years for Rasmussen’s actions, sticking to a plea deal he made with Rasmussen and his attorney Marty Scott to not ask for more than 16 years.
Itzen told the court that the investigation showed that Rasmussen liked to portray himself as a gangster and that he had been warned about pointing his pistol’s laser at others.
The night of the shooting, Itzen said Rasmussen had been “smoking dope” and pointed the laser at Sears with a round in the chamber and Sears “got shot in the head because (Rasmussen) wanted to be gangster.”
“The bottom line is, you can’t run around thinking you are a thug,” he said.
Sears’ father, Jacob Sears, told the court that his son’s death has devastated him and his family. He said he never thought that the last time he would see his son he would be holding “his cold hands” at a mortuary.
He characterized his son as gifted musically and someone who was full of life and love. His loss has left him with nightmares, Jacob Sears said.
‘Can’t Hold Myself Together’ “
I just can’t hold myself together on some days,” he said. “The choices made by this young man led to the death of my son … I had hoped to be the best man at his wedding.”
Sears’ mother, Lisa Pederson, told the court that her son’s loss caused her “immeasurable pain.”
“I wake up every morning in silence to where his voice should be,” she said. “Every day I think about my Riley … Riley mattered, his life mattered.”
Scott told the court that he has represented several defendants in his career who have been charged with taking another person’s life. He said Rasmussen from his first meeting with him took full responsibility for what he had done and wanted to plead guilty as soon as possible.
In a conversation with Rasmussen, he quickly ascertained that his client had never had proper instruction about handling a weapon safely, Scott said.
“It was his fault, he was reckless,” Scott said. “He was being stupid and reckless. It was not an intentional action.”
Scott said Rasmussen was ready to accept responsibility for what he had done. But he asked the judge to consider as part of his sentence the state’s Youthful Offender program. He said if Rasmussen completed it, he would then ask the court to consider probation.
“We can’t bring Riley back,” Scott said. If the judge did not think the Youthful Offender program was appropriate, Scott asked the judge to not put him in prison for more than a decade. Scott said he believed a sentence of 8 - 12 years “would still send a message that this is a serious offense.”
Boot Camp Not Appropriate
Johnson said she did not think the Youthful Offender program was appropriate in the case and noted the extreme reckless behavior Rasmussen showed through his actions. She also said that she had received and reviewed letters sent the court on Rasmussen’s behalf.
Court records show that Rasmussen’s stepfather, Alec Wood wrote that in the 11 years he has known him, he was always compassionate and loving to his family and friends.
“He always helped with his siblings and family pets. He always wanted to help his friends when they were having problems at home,” he said. “He is an extremely caring and loving individual.”
A letter from staff at the Wendy’s restaurant where Rasmussen worked for six months prior to the shooting told the judge that he was one of their favorite employees who was “always positive and kindhearted.”
“We as Wendy’s management believe Luka Rasmussen is a genuine, kind-hearted kid that made a regrettable honest mistake and he will take these actions to heart every day,” the letter stated.
Rasmussen’s grandmother wrote about the instability he has had in his family life.
Johnson in her comments pointed out that Rasmussen had been warned a week before the incident about pointing the pistol’s laser at others.
She also noted that the teens at the home were smoking marijuana in addition to having the weapons while a parent was in the home. But Johnson said it was Rasmussen’s actions that led to the 16-year-old’s death.
“It was your choice to pull the gun out,” she said. “It was extreme recklessness, you had been warned … nothing good came out of the circumstances.”
After his prison term, the judge noted that maybe Rasmussen would be able to help warn teens about the reckless use of firearms.
Background
Testimony at Rasmussen’s Feb. 20, 2025 preliminary hearing from Casper Police Detective Leonard Jacobs showed that police responded to the house on E. 8th Street around 9 p.m. on Feb. 12 for a report of a “traumatic injury.”
They found the body of Riley Sears lying on his side in a second-floor bedroom with a single gunshot wound “just off his right eyebrow.” The bullet had gone through his head, a gaming chair, curtain and glass door, Jacobs testified.
Testimony showed Rasmussen had been picked up from work by the 17-year-old male who lived at the 8th Street address, and they later picked up Sears. Rasmussen was taken to his residence to pick up his .40-caliber Glock.
The police affidavit in the case states that they returned to the 8th Street home and played a video game and Rasmussen admitted to taking three hits from a marijuana vape pen allegedly brought by the victim, Sears.
The 17-year-old who lived at the home told police that prior to the incident, Rasmussen had pointed his pistol at Sears and that “while the firearm is pointed at Sears, the firearm goes off.” Rasmussen told police that he was going to take a photo of his pistol and got distracted and when he went “to sit down, the firearm goes off,” Jacobs testified.
During the preliminary hearing, Itzen introduced two photos taken from the cell phone of the 17-year-old that showed Rasmussen pointing a Glock handgun with a green laser at the 17-year-old on Feb. 10, two days before the fatal shooting of Sears.
Another photo from Jan. 23 showed Rasmussen pointing the weapon at the same teen as he stood over him.
The shooting investigation found that all the teens possessed handguns. Police recovered a “single firearm” adjacent to Sears with the magazine ejected and the chamber empty, Jacobs testified. They found the .40-caliber Glock in the backyard belonging to Rasmussen between a shed and the fence with the magazine ejected and the chamber empty, he said.
Additionally, Jacobs testified that police found a third firearm in a grate inside a grill. He said the gun was associated with the 17-year-old who lived at the 8th Street home.
Jacobs testified that the police found evidence that marijuana or THC was being used in the bedroom, through a vape pipe as well as other marijuana paraphernalia.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
