‘Stalked like prey’: Killer laid in wait over an hour before murdering man he says bullied him on Facebook over ‘rumors’ he was undercover cop

Background: Mark Bent at his sentencing hearing on Monday, Feb. 10, 2023 (East Idaho News). Inset: Nikolas Bird (Flamm Funeral Home).

Background: Mark Bent at his sentencing hearing on Monday, Feb. 10, 2023 (East Idaho News). Inset: Nikolas Bird (Flamm Funeral Home).

An Idaho man was sentenced this week to a minimum of 45 years and a maximum of life in prison for murdering a man he says bullied him on Facebook — shooting him 17 times in the street outside the victim’s home — over “rumors” that the killer was an undercover cop.

Mark Bent, 43, was found guilty in December of first-degree murder and felony enhancement for the use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony for the September 2023 killing of Nikolas Bird, 23, outside his home in Bonneville County, according to East Idaho News. Bent, who was sentenced Monday, took to Facebook after the fatal shooting to explain why he took Bird’s life, saying it stemmed from online bullying related to his occupation. Bird’s family has denied the bullying accusation and says there’s no evidence to support it.

“I am saddened to say that I have committed some serious crimes today that will put me in jail for the rest of my life or lead to death,” Bent wrote after the shooting, according to prosecutors and East Idaho News. “As some of you know, shortly after I moved to Idaho Falls, I was slandered on Facebook with rumors of me being an Undercover Police Officer. Those rumors were followed by threats, harassment and more slander. Even after the facts were out that I am not a Police Officer of any kind, people still chose to believe it and continue to harass, threaten me and eventually look up where I live and work and post it on the internet.”

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