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Man involved in 2019 drive-by shooting to plead guilty

SCOTT SHINDLEDECKER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 8 months AGO
by SCOTT SHINDLEDECKER
Hagadone News Network | June 26, 2021 12:00 AM

A Flathead Valley man who was implicated in a drive-by shooting on the west side of Kalispell four days before Christmas 2019 has agreed to plead guilty.

Dray Scott Wieting, 19, of Kalispell, was arrested July 10, 2020, in Columbia Falls. He was wanted by the Kalispell Police Department for his alleged participation with three others in the shooting. He remains in the Flathead County Detention Center with his bail set at $280,000.

Court documents filed in Flathead County District Court indicate Wieting will plead guilty to one felony count of assault with a weapon and one felony count of criminal endangerment. The deal calls for him to serve a total of 25 years with 10 suspended.

Wieting originally was charged with two counts of assault with a weapon and three counts of criminal endangerment.

Wieting faced a maximum of 70 years in the Montana State Prison if convicted of all charges.

Wieting’s change of plea hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday, July 15.

Wieting still has a pending case against him for allegedly stealing a vehicle and crashing it in Columbia Falls on June 4, 2020.

Wieting was the last of four people sought in the Dec. 21, 2019, shootings that left several Kalispell homes riddled with bullets.

In the complaint against Wieting, a woman said he sold a gun to her friend in late December 2019. At the time, Wieting allegedly admitted to being involved in the drive-by shooting. The complaint also indicated Wieting’s statement was corroborated by social media records.

The woman also said she was at a party when she allegedly heard Wieting say he wasn’t stupid enough to let his shells go out of the car during the shooting.

Two of the three other participants in the shooting pleaded guilty and are serving time in state facilities.

Joseph Trapper Bukowski, 20, pleaded guilty to his involvement in the drive-by shooting June 4. Bukowski was sentenced in September 2020 to a total of 25 years with 10 suspended. He is serving his sentence in the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge.

Bukowski pleaded guilty to one count each of criminal endangerment and assault with a weapon.

Ansen Walter Ingraham, 19, received the same sentence of 25 years with 10 suspended. Ingraham is serving his time in the Dawson County Correctional Facility in Glendive.

Ingraham pleaded guilty July 9 to one count of assault with a weapon and one count of criminal endangerment.

A fourth individual involved in the shooting was a juvenile at the time and the status of his case is not known.

On June 4, 2020, when Bukowski admitted guilt in the shooting, he said Wieting was present and fired shots at the residence during the incident, according to the charging document.

During a previous court hearing, Bukowski admitted to driving the SUV involved in the crime. He also said he had a handgun, but didn’t fire it.

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.

Reporter Scott Shindledecker may be reached at 758-4441 or [email protected].

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