A stone-faced Kaleb Anthony Hilliard pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges stemming from a deadly shooting in Kalispell earlier this month.  

The 21-year-old is accused of opening fire outside of a 100-block Seventh Avenue East North apartment complex in the early morning hours of Oct. 13. One man, 19-year-old Anthony Williams of Eureka, was killed in the shooting and two other people were wounded.  

A fourth individual — Hilliard's girlfriend, according to court documents — was injured when she was dragged along the pavement as Hilliard fled in his vehicle.  

Appearing before Judge Heidi Ulbricht in Flathead County District Court on Oct. 22, Hilliard entered not guilty pleas to one count each of deliberate homicide and criminal endangerment as well as two counts of attempted deliberate homicide.  

Dressed in an orange detention center uniform, Hilliard spoke aloud only once during the arraignment, answering a question from the judge in a raspy voice. He conversed briefly in hushed tones with defense attorney Alisha Rapkoch before and after entering his plea.  

Despite sitting beside Hilliard at the defense table, Rapkoch told the judge that the Office of the Public Defender in Kalispell could not represent the 21-year-old owing to a conflict. She expected the state would find him a lawyer before the week was out. 

Ulbricht set a pretrial conference in the case for Jan. 6, with a status hearing to follow on Feb. 22.  

Hilliard was led out of the courtroom following his arraignment. He remains in the county jail with bail set at $1 million.  

The shooting was preceded by an argument between Hilliard and his girlfriend at a party at the apartment complex, prosecutors wrote in the charging documents. When Hilliard returned to the building, two men — one of them Williams — approached the driver's side window of his vehicle, court documents said.  

As they neared, Hilliard allegedly pulled out the gun and fired three times before driving off.  

Later found at home in bed, Hilliard told Kalispell Police officers that the men threatened him and left him scared for his life, according to court documents. 

News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 406-758-4430 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support. 

    Kaleb Anthony Hilliard appears for his arraignment in Flathead County District Court on Thursday, Oct. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider