Witness says teen pointed gun at victim in fatal shooting, contradicting suspect’s account
CASPER, Wyo. — A witness to the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Riley Jacob Sears last week in Casper told police that Luka Rasmussen, 18, was pointing the gun at the victim when the shooting occurred.
The statement contradicts Rasmussen’s statement to police, which was that he had the gun in his hand when he sat down and it went off while it was resting on his thigh, according to the affidavit.
The 17-year-old (initials T.W.) was reportedly the only other witness and had left the residence after the shooting. He had not yet spoken to police when the affidavit recommending a charge of involuntary manslaughter for Rasmussen was submitted to prosecutors.
Rasmussen was charged based on the report in circuit court last Thursday, less than 24 hours after the shooting and death of Sears.
The witness’s contradictory statement was revealed by Casper Police Department Detective Leonard Jacobs at a preliminary hearing for Rasmussen on Thursday, Feb. 20. Rasmussen faces up to 20 years in prison on the involuntary manslaughter charge. He is presumed innocent unless proven or pleading guilty.
Public Defender Marty Scott asked Jacobs about his affidavit, which said that some of the initial crime scene analysis supported Rasmussen’s version of events, later contradicted by T.W.
Jacobs said Thursday that “it appeared [the bullet] would have come from higher up, rather than in the lap.”
Jacobs emphasized that the laser technology referenced in the charging document had provided a “generalized trajectory” of the bullet, which went through the right side of Sears’s head, through a gaming chair and out a glass window.
Sears was pronounced dead at the scene.
Jacobs confirmed that more information about the bullet’s trajectory would be revealed in the coroner’s forthcoming report.
While speaking to Jacobs on the stand, District Attorney Dan Itzen introduced two photographs that had been found on T.W.’s cellphone of Rasmussen pointing a pistol directly at T.W., a green laser marking the gun’s line of sight. One was from Jan. 23 and another from Feb. 10, two days before the shooting.
T.W. told police that on the night of Feb. 12, Rasmussen was pointing the gun at Sears and the green laser was active when the gun went off, Jacobs said.
The Glock 22 Gen 5 .40 caliber pistol Rasmussen had was found in the backyard between a fence and a shed. Jacobs said two other firearms were found at the east Casper residence. One was stashed on a barbecue grill and another was in the room with Sears.
Jacobs said the firearm on the grill had been reported stolen last summer.
Scott conceded that the state had met its burden to advance the case to district court, where Rasmussen will enter a formal plea.
“The question is: Is this ‘reckless’ conduct or ‘criminally negligent’?” Scott said.
The involuntary manslaughter charge against Rasmussen relates to unlawful killing by reckless conduct without malice, as defined in statute. It is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
The charge of criminally negligent homicide, however, is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison. The elements of that charge as defined in statute are as follows.
A person acts with criminal negligence when, through a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would exercise, he fails to perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the harm he is accused of causing will occur, and the harm results. The risk shall be of such nature and degree that the failure to perceive it constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe in the situation;
Judge Nichole Collier denied a motion for a reduction in bond, which was set at $500,000 cash or surety last week.
Rasmussen said at his initial appearance that he had been in Casper about four years and worked at a fast food restaurant.
More From K2 Radio
