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Rocky Mountain College football player dies in shooting; teen in custody

BPD and a neighbor
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UPDATE

BILLINGS — Billings police say an 18-year-old man shot Saturday morning is deceased, and they are shifting the investigation to a homicide.

MTN News confirmed the victim was Chandler Stalcup, a freshman at Rocky Mountain College and a defensive lineman for the Battlin' Bears football team.

BPD Lt. Matt Lennick says a 16-year-old Billings boy has been arrested on a possible charge of deliberate homicide and remanded into youth custody.

More details of the shooting were released Sunday evening. Lennick said at 2:54 a.m. Saturday officers were responding to a complaint of shots fired at a residence on the 1400 block of Avenue C when they received a second call that a person had been shot on the 900 block of Poly Drive.

Stalcup was found at the location on Poly Drive with life-threatening gunshot wounds and taken to a Billings hospital.

Billings police say he died from his injuries Sunday night.

Rocky posted on social media on Saturday that all athletic events have been postponed until further notice. The Rocky football team is scheduled to play Arizona Christian on Saturday night in Glendale, Arizona.

Rocky Mountain College president Dr. Robert Wilmouth released a statement to MTN News:

"Rocky Mountain College is mourning the tragic loss of Chandler Stalcup, an RMC student," Wilmouth said. "We request that the privacy of the family and our campus be respected during this difficult time."

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First Report

A Sunday SWAT activation on the 1400 block of Sourdough Lane was related to an early Saturday morning shooting, Billings police say, as officers took people into custody for questioning.

BPD Lt. Matt Lennick said as of Sunday afternoon, no arrests had been made related to the shooting that occurred on the 900 block of Poly Drive and sent an 18-year-old man to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.

MTN News confirmed that man is Chandler Stalcup, a freshman at Rocky Mountain College and a defensive lineman for the Battlin' Bears football team. According to the team roster, Stalcup is originally from Crystal River, Florida.

Chandler Stalcup/2023 Battlin' Bears roster

Saturday afternoon Rocky Mountain announced all athletic contests would be postponed until further notice. It is not confirmed if that is in relation to the shooting.

Neighbors of the 1490 Sourdough Lane triplex apartment describe the residents as quiet. Matthew Callahan, who lives down the road, watched police enter apartment C in the complex.

Rocky Mountain football player injured in shooting, SWAT incident related

"You could hear the flash bangs go off and glass breaking. And officers getting ready to go into the house and just lots of bangs and sirens,” Callahan said on Sunday. “They were talking about they had a warrant, a search warrant to come into the house and enter the premises, and that’s when they started busting out the windows and making entry.”

Callahan saw several people taken into custody after police entered the residence.

Rocky Mountain football player injured in shooting, SWAT incident related
Matthew Callahan

“So, we watched one kid get pulled out first, and then there was a few more that followed. I think they were three males, one female at the end,” Callahan said. “It looked like they were anywhere from like sixteen to twenty. They were all really young.”