MEDFORD − Charges were filed June 1 against a 19-year-old Marshfield man in connection with the April 28 shooting death of a Medford man.
Brent M. Porter faces a charge of being a party to the crime of first-degree reckless homicide in the death of Austin D. Olson, 21, of Medford. Porter also faces charges of homicide by intoxicated use of a weapon, possession of a firearm while intoxicated and carrying a concealed weapon.
Porter made his initial appearance on the charges June 2. Taylor County Circuit Judge Ann Knox-Bauer denied a motion by Porter’s attorney, Aaron Nelson, to reduce the $250,000 cash bail set May 4 to $25,000. Knox-Bauer set Porter’s next court appearance for June 17.
According to the criminal complaint, on April 28, Porter, his girlfriend and two male friends went to Olson’s home to get the belongings of Porter’s girlfriend, who had previously been Olson’s girlfriend.
While they were on their way to Olson’s home, Porter showed a handgun he had with him, according to the complaint. Porter’s girlfriend was upset he had it and yelled at him to put it away.
When the group got to Olson’s home, a man and woman began yelling at Porter, but Porter said he was just there to get the woman’s things and didn’t want trouble. The man and woman said they didn’t want trouble either and stopped yelling, according to the complaint. However, Olson yelled at Porter to get off the property.
Olson began shoving Porter and Porter pushed back, according to the complaint. The two men who had come with Porter tried to stop the fight. One grabbed Olson from behind and told him it wasn’t worth it, according to the complaint.
Porter’s girlfriend said she did not get involved in the fight. Instead, she worked by herself to get her things, which had been placed in the garage, and put them into the pickup truck they came in, according to the complaint. The woman said she just wanted to get the stuff so they could get out of there.
Then, a gun went off and Olson fell to the ground, according to the complaint. One of the men said Porter and Olson were crouched over with their arms between them when the shot was fired.
One man said Porter started yelling Olson’s nickname and saying, “Please get up, please get up,” according to the complaint. Porter called 911 at 8:52 p.m. April 28 and said someone had been shot by accident.
When police arrived, Porter told them he had given his gun to one of the men, and he didn’t know who had the gun when it fired. The woman and two men all said they didn’t see who fired the gun, according to the complaint.
Olson had been shot in the stomach and the woman was trying to apply pressure to the wound when police arrived, according to the complaint. An officer found Olson didn’t have a pulse and began CPR until emergency medical technicians arrived.
One of the men said he ran away when he heard the gunshot because, “You don’t stay around for one of those,” according to the complaint. When police talked to him two days later, he said he hadn’t had the gun and he was looking at the other man, whose hands were empty. The man said it was Porter who shot the gun, but he didn’t see it, according to the complaint.
The woman said no one was near her when the gun went off, but Porter said he was next to the woman and helping load her belongings into the truck when the gun went off, according to the complaint.
Police searched the people at the scene and the area around the shooting but didn’t find the gun, according to the complaint. The next day, on April 29, they served a search warrant at the victim’s home and found a handgun on the front passenger side of a pickup parked there.
The group said Porter had put the gun in the pickup prior to the shooting. None of them saw him get it back out, according to the complaint.
Police determined Porter had been drinking the night of the shooting. A preliminary breath test showed he had a blood alcohol concentration of .08%, according to the complaint.
The preliminary autopsy showed Olson died from a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
Contact Karen Madden kmadden@usatodayco.com. Follow her on Twitter @KMadden715, Instagram @kmadden715 or Facebook at www.facebook.com/karen.madden.33.
This article originally appeared on Marshfield News-Herald: Marshfield man charged in April 28 shooting death of Medford man
Reporting by Karen Madden, Marshfield News-Herald / Marshfield News-Herald
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