Luka Wade Rasmussen (Natrona County Sheriff’s Office).
The teenager charged with accidentally shooting his friend in the head with a handgun during a session of gaming and smoking marijuana pleaded not guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter on Tuesday, according to Cowboy State Daily.
Luka Wade Rasmussen, 18, must remain behind bars on $500,000 bond after the judge rejected a defense request to have his bail lowered to $100,000. Public defender Marty Scott reportedly noted that the teenager’s coworkers at Wendy’s wrote a letter attesting to his character. District Attorney Dan Itzen, however, noted the seriousness of the charge and alluded to the claim that one of the three guns located on the property and been reported stolen in summer 2024.
The victim, Riley Jacob Sears, 16, had joined Rasmussen and a teenager who lived in the home on Feb. 12, 2025, in Casper, Wyoming. They played video games and smoked marijuana, authorities said, but at one point, Rasmussen took out a gun, and it went off, authorities said.
The defendant allegedly said he had had the gun resting on his thigh when it went off, but the teenage witness claimed that Rasmussen was pointing it at Sears. Prosecutors have presented photos in court showing Rasmussen pointing the gun at the teenage witness on two separate dates. The latter image happened on Feb. 10 — two days before the fatal shooting.
Police claim that the father of the third teen had told Rasmussen to “get rid of the gun.”
“Rasmussen stated he ran out of the back door on the main floor of the residence and ran to the shed,” police wrote. “Rasmussen stated he threw his gun behind the shed and did not recall removing the magazine or manipulating the gun.”
Police claimed they found the gun behind the shed.
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