Thursday, March 28, 2024
43.0°F

Teen pleads guilty to drive-by shooting

by SCOTT SHINDLEDECKER
Hagadone News Network | June 4, 2020 4:26 PM

A Flathead Valley man has pleaded guilty to his involvement in a drive-by shooting that occurred on the west side of Kalispell four days before Christmas 2019.

Joseph Trapper Bukowski, 19, pleaded guilty to one count each of criminal endangerment and assault with a weapon Thursday morning in Flathead County District Court.

Two counts of criminal endangerment and one for assault with a weapon were dismissed as part of the plea agreement Bukowski has with the state.

Judge Dan Wilson accepted the plea and set sentencing for 9 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 13.

Bukowski remains lodged in the Flathead County Detention Center on $250,000 bail.

Bukowski’s co-conspirator, Ansen Walter Ingraham, 18, is scheduled to appear in court for a pre-trial conference July 15. He also remains in the Flathead County Detention Center on $250,000 bail.

Ingraham and Bukowski each initially pleaded not guilty Jan. 9 to several felony offenses. Ingraham still faces two felony counts of assault with a weapon and three counts of criminal endangerment.

Ingraham was arrested Dec. 23 at a home on West Cottonwood Drive in Evergreen and Bukowski was booked into jail Dec. 27 for their alleged roles in the Dec. 21 shooting that left at least three Kalispell homes riddled with bullet holes.

During Thursday’s hearing, Bukowski took the stand and admitted to driving the SUV involved in the crime. He also said he had a handgun, but didn’t fire it.

He said Ingraham and two others in the vehicle also had guns and fired them during the incident.

One of the other people involved in the shooting is a juvenile and has been charged, according to Flathead County Deputy Attorney Alison Howard. No details have been released yet about the status of the fourth occupant in the vehicle.

Bukowski’s attorney, Tim Wenz, asked his client where each of the four accused people were sitting in the vehicle. Bukowski said he was driving, Ingraham was in the front passenger seat and the other two were in the back seats.

“We knew where we were going,” Bukowski said when asked by Howard if he knew what was happening when the foursome were inside the SUV.

During the investigation, police learned Ingraham allegedly had threatened a person who lives in the targeted duplex on Seventh Avenue over an ongoing dispute, telling that person he would “get what was coming to him.”

According to court documents, Kalispell Police received a report of “shots fired” at 12:08 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 21, near a duplex on Seventh Avenue West in Kalispell. It was later reported that two other residences on Sunnyside Drive and Ashley Creek Lane were shot several times.

Reportedly, a large SUV passed by and its occupants shot the homes, court documents allege. Numerous bullet holes were found in the residences, as well as bullets, and more than 20 casings were found in the street. Based on the evidence, police believe both a 9 mm and a .45-caliber weapon were used in the crime.

Police said one bullet passed through a wall a few feet from a sleeping child.

When asked why the people in the vehicle shot at the other residences, Bukowski said he didn’t know.

Reporter Scott Shindledecker may be reached at 758-4441 or sshindledecker@dailyinterlake.com.