BILLINGS — Charging documents filed against two Billings teens on Friday outline the events prosecutors allege led to the death of an 18-year-old Rocky Mountain College football player who was shot while driving away from a late-night house party on Oct. 28.
The teens were arrested the next day at a residence on Sourdough Lane after police located a vehicle described as being involved in the fatal shooting. They were charged as adults in Yellowstone County District Court on Friday.
The alleged shooter, 16-year-old Sidney Cruz DeCrane, was charged with deliberate homicide. Garrett Door, 17, who prosecutors allege was driving the car involved in the shooting, was charged with deliberate homicide by accountability. Both were scheduled to be arraigned on the charges Friday afternoon.
The victim, Chandler Stalcup, was struck in the head by a gunshot and was pronounced dead at a Billings hospital. Stalcup was a standout athlete from Florida who was playing defensive end for the Rocky Mountain College football team.
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Police have said the shooting was not gang related, but the teens charged with the killing have gang ties. The fatal shooting was followed five days later by another shooting that claimed the lives of a 31-year-old Billings man and his 1-year-old son. The string of shooting deaths led Billings officials to announce new efforts to combat what they described as the city's growing gang problem.
According to the charging documents filed against the teens, the Oct. 28 shooting happened at about 3 a.m. in the 900 block of Poly Drive. Officers responding to reports of a shooting and located a vehicle with a bullet hole through the driver's side window and Stalcup was found "seriously injured" in the driver's seat.
A witness told investigators that prior to the shooting, he was at a house party in the area of 15th Street West when a fight broke out. The witness said he called Stalcup and asked him to come pick him up from the party.
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Three other witnesses told police they went with Stalcup to pick up their friend and when they arrived at the house, they got out of the vehicle to look for him. At about that time, an older black sedan, which prosecutors describe as the "suspect vehicle," pulled up near the vehicle driven by Stalcup. The occupants of the sedan asked about the party, court records state, then asked where the occupants of Stalcup's vehicle were from. Some of the occupants in the sedan were wearing ski masks, witnesses said.
The sedan then pulled forward, court records state, and one of the occupants leaned out a window and fired numerous gunshots causing people to flee, including Stalcup and two others who returned to his vehicle and left the area.
Shortly after leaving, the occupants of Stalcup's vehicle noticed the suspect vehicle was following them. On Poly Drive the suspect vehicle pulled next to Stalcup's vehicle and an occupant on the passenger side fired a single shot into Stalcup's vehicle, striking him in the head.
In the wake of the shooting, Rocky Mountain College had announced that all athletic events had been postponed "until further notice." Rocky announced Tuesday night that athletics would resume activities on Wednesday.
The Battlin' Bears football team, after team discussions and consulting with the Stalcup family, has decided it will play its scheduled game on the road at Arizona Christian on Saturday night.
