Deal resolves shooting case

SANDPOINT — A Bonner County man accused of opening fire on teenage anglers fly fishing on Priest River pleaded guilty Friday.

Eric Rampton Wood pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and an amended charge of discharging an aimed firearm causing injury, a misdemeanor.

Wood, 52, is scheduled to be sentenced in 1st District Court in June, court records show.

Wood was originally charged with a felony charge of unlawfully discharging a firearm at an occupied vehicle, unlawful possession of a firearm and felony injury to property in connection with the Sept. 13, 2017, incident which left one teen with a gunshot wound to his leg.

The teens, both 13 at the time, had ridden to a fishing hole on a motorized scooter and were casting lines when they began receiving gunfire, according to prior testimony in the case. When they went to leave on the bullet-damaged scooter, one of the teens was shot in the leg and they ended up crashing it.

An alleged accomplice, Leo Michael Inwood, was also charged with a felony firearms offense, in addition to charges of evidence concealment and felony malicious injury to property.

Judge Justin Julian, however, found insufficient evidence to support the felony firearms and malicious injury charges. Julian ordered Inwood to stand trial on a misdemeanor malicious injury to property and discharging an aimed firearm causing injury.

Wood, who turned state’s evidence, testified at Inwood’s preliminary hearing that he believed they were targeting a box top or sign that had been blown into the brush and was unaware that the teens were nearby.

Inwood, 42, pleaded not guilty to the charges, setting the stage for a three-day jury trial in 1st District Court in June.

In exchange for his pleas, Wood was released on his own recognizance, according to a pretrial settlement agreement. A persistent violator sentencing enhancement was jettisoned and the state has agreed to limit its recommendation to a two- to five-year prison term on the weapons possession charge. The agreement also requires Wood to testify as a state’s witness if Inwood’s case goes before a jury, court records indicate.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.