POLSON — The first person charged in last month’s drive-by shootings in Pablo appeared in district court last week, as 20-year-old Francis Burke, Jr. pled not guilty to four felonies, including two counts of assault with a weapon, criminal endangerment, and criminal possession of dangerous drugs.

Burke, a Pablo resident, had bond held at $100,000. An omnibus hearing was scheduled for Feb. 13, with a jury trial slated to commence on Mar. 24.

Other individuals tied to the shootings were also scheduled to appear before district court Judge James Manley on the Jan. 9 session but had their hearings continued. Those suspects included Jonathan Drennan-Beck, 19, whose appearance has been delayed by a mental evaluation, and Luis Denobrega, 24, who has still not had a lawyer appointed.

An affidavit in Burke’s court file provided a detailed account of the events leading from the Dec. 8 retaliation shooting of an occupied Pablo home to the arrest of him and two other suspects, including Drennan-Beck.

The arrests hinged on an eyewitness account of the shooting, after it was reported that “a white minivan drove up to the house, a back door opened and a male in the rear seat began shooting at the house.”

The individuals occupying the targeted home – which sustained “multiple bullet holes in the interior and exterior walls” – rolled to the ground and were unharmed, but said they knew someone named Victor Barnaby who drove a van that matched the description. Court records indicated that a similar vehicle registered under the last name Barnaby had also been present at a nearby shooting the previous night.

Upon receiving the tip, officers responded to Barnaby’s home, where a white van was parked. After a relative who owns the vehicle consented to a search, several .45-caliber shell casings were found in the rear of the van. The responding officers then asked to interview Victor Barnaby, 18, and Burke, who had been in the house.

The two were questioned separately and reportedly told inconsistent stories that did not match up. After further questioning, court records state that they identified Drennan-Beck as the shooter and said that he was still in the house.

Records state that Drennan-Beck was found hiding in a bathroom in a search of the house, while a .45-caliber handgun and several bags of methamphetamine were also uncovered in the residence.

After the three were arrested, the affidavit states that in subsequent interviews “each of the suspects downplayed their own participation in the shooting but provided information about the others.” They also revealed that the home victimized in the shooting had been targeted “in retaliation for the homeowner’s son, Dalton [Olson], participating in the drive-by shooting of Francis Burke’s home the previous evening. The three agreed to teach Olson a lesson, so [they] went to [his] house with Barnaby driving and Drennan-Beck in the back seat.… All three denied that the shooting involved drugs, but all three admitted to using methamphetamine.”

Court records said that Olson was not inside the house at the time of the shooting.

Denobrega stands accused as the gunman in the initial shooting that sparked the outbreak of violence on Dec. 7. He was arrested Dec. 11 after leading authorities on a high-speed car chase through Lake County, in which speeds exceeded 85 mph.

Tribal police reported finding methamphetamine, prescription drugs, scales, and a full bag of firearms in Denobrega’s car. Denobrega reportedly had been wanted for an outstanding charge of assault with a deadly weapon in Washington state.