More than two months after a teen was shot in the head and killed in a Riverton apartment during what police describe as a deadly night of drinking, social media photos and panic after reckless gunplay, a suspect has been charged.
Newly filed affidavits in Fremont Count Circuit Court made available Thursday reveal that two young Riverton men are wanted in connection with the March 3 shooting death of Charlie Washington, who died sitting in a recliner.
One faces felony charges of manslaughter, aggravated assault and battery, and possession of a deadly weapon with unlawful intent.
The other is accused of accessory before the fact to involuntary manslaughter and possession of a deadly weapon with unlawful intent.
Cowboy State Daily is not naming either suspect at this time because neither has been taken into custody.
The affidavits add new context to what Cowboy State Daily observed later in the morning following the shooting, when stunned tenants wandered around the apartment complex trying to piece together what had happened overnight.
‘That’s Where The Bullet Went Through’
Just hours after the shooting at the apartment where Washington was found dead, assistant property manager Ernie Brown pointed to what appeared to be a bullet hole punched through the wall of the landlord’s office.
Brown, an Army veteran, said he heard the gunshot shortly after midnight, threw on clothes and rushed next door.
Inside, he found Washington slumped in a recliner with a catastrophic head wound, his hands laying in his lap.
“I’m ex-military, so I know what a headshot looks like,” Brown told Cowboy State Daily at the time.
He also recalled another teenager at the scene repeatedly saying, “I shot him, I shot him,” while emotionally unraveling before fleeing the apartment alongside another young man.
At the time, Riverton Police Chief Eric Hurtado said nobody was in custody and that investigators were trying to determine what led up to a gun going off.
Now more than two months later, investigators have filed a warrant for the arrest for the teenager accused of shooting Washington, as well as an accused co-conspirator.
‘Murk’ Him
Witnesses told investigators the two suspects and Washington had been “rough playing” inside the living room while others hung out nearby watching videos, according to the affidavits.
A witness said one of the suspects pulled a handgun from his shirt pocket and jokingly said he was going to “murk” Washington, the affidavits say.
The gun then became part of what appeared to be a social media photo session, the affidavits say. One teenager reportedly took a photo of the other pointing the gun at Washington. Then the two switched places and took more photos with the weapon aimed at the victim.
The affidavits say one of the suspects eventually inserted a magazine into the handgun, racked the slide and pointed the firearm at Washington once again — except this time, according to witnesses, a live round had been chambered.
Then he pulled the trigger and a bullet struck Washington in the head while he sat in the recliner, according to the affidavits.
Court documents say witnesses saw the teen immediately panic, throw the gun down and begin “jumping up and down waving his hands,” while saying he “didn’t mean to do that.”
Then, both teenagers ran from the apartment, said the affidavit.
Another witness — identified in court documents as the girlfriend of one of the suspects — reportedly corroborated the account given by another teen in the apartment.
Booze, Selfies And A Stolen Gun
Search warrants later uncovered what investigators describe as videos and mirror selfies posted to social media accounts the night before the shooting.
The photos reportedly show the teenagers and Washington drinking alcohol together inside the apartment, the affidavits say. Some of the images feature one of the suspects posing with what investigators believe was the same handgun later used in the killing.
Investigators recovered a 9 mm pistol from the living room floor roughly 10 feet from Washington’s body. They also recovered the bullet after it traveled through the apartment wall and into a neighboring unit.
Police later traced the firearm back to a deceased owner, the affidavits say. Investigators now believe the gun may have been passed along to another person before eventually being stolen from a vehicle sometime in 2024.
Investigators also report finding conversations between one of the suspects and family members where he reportedly described the shooting as an “accident.”
‘The Light Of Every Room’
Washington’s death rattled Riverton almost immediately.
In March, his sister Shannon Hill told Cowboy State Daily her brother “was the light of every room he walked in.”
She said he loved his friends and adored his nieces and nephews, and died just nine days before his 19th birthday.
The shooting also amplified growing concerns among tenants at the apartment complex, where Brown said management had already been warning younger residents about heavy traffic and late-night activity shortly before the gunfire erupted.
“We were talking to them yesterday, telling them, ‘You’ve got to quit bringing all this traffic in, because something’s going to go awry,’” Brown told Cowboy State Daily after the shooting. “And it sure did. It went awry last night.”
Kolby Fedore can be reached at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com.
