Bail set in manslaughter case

SANDPOINT — A Bonner County woman charged with involuntary manslaughter was ordered held Thursday in lieu of $10,000 bail.

Lorraine Kathryn Kenitzki bowed her head and choked up as Judge Barbara Buchanan read the felony charge to her during an initial court appearance. A public defender was appointed to represent Kenitzki and a preliminary hearing is pending.

Kenitzki, 45, is accused of shooting Erik David Foust early Wednesday morning in a recreational vehicle parked outside the Green Owl Tavern north of Priest River. Faust, 41, was shot in the upper chest with a 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol shortly after 2:30 am.

Kenitzki called 911 to report the shooting and dispatchers instructed her on how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Emergency medical personnel who responded to the scene off Peninsula Road were also unable to revive Faust.Kenitzki is charged with killing Foust without malice by negligent or reckless handling of a firearm. She told investigators Foust was shot accidentally during a struggle over the weapon.

Sheriff’s officials have not divulged what the struggle concerned, although court records indicate it might have involved a prior physical assault on Kenitzki by unidentified parties in Newport, Wash.

Foust, according to unsealed probable cause hearing testimony, took exception to the assault, retrieved the pistol and began waving it around. Kenitzki apparently tried to disarm Foust and the weapon discharged.

“She was trying to take it away from him,” said Deb Carter, a friend who attended Kenitzki’s video arraignment.

Carter said Kenitzki did not mean to harm Foust.