Police in Montana have arrested the suspect in the fatal drive by shooting of a 13-year-old boy last week in Washington state.
Glen Dylan Burkey, 25, was arrested Wednesday after investigators received word that he was in the Missoula area, the Missoula Police Department said, and they located him around noon. The department brought a SWAT team to the scene and used flashbangs before Burkey surrendered and was taken into custody.
Spokane Police had previously identified Burkey as the suspect in the shooting death of 13-year-old Gavin Looper early Saturday morning and said he would face charges of second degree murder, drive-by shooting, and assault.
Looper, a student at Spokane’s Peperzak Middle School was at a friend’s house with his older brother and father, the kids’ mother, Renee Rogers said, The Spokesman-Review said. His older brother was a watching a movie and Gavin was playing a video game when gunshots rang out. The father, Rogers’ ex-husband, raced into the room and found the boy bleeding on the floor.
“It was literally the worst night my kids could’ve been over there,” Rogers said. “They shot through the back door. He was on the other side.”
It’s not exactly clear what happened that night. Court records indicate that Burkey had been drinking most of the day prior to the shooting and at some point was running from someone and shooting at him, witnesses said. He told the witnesses he had been ripped off and the other person was shooting at him.
When the witnesses learned the teen was shot, they encouraged Burkey to surrender but he scoffed at them and hung up.
Burkey is now awaiting extradition to Washington to stand trial.
