March 4, 2004
Verden
“Kit” Bettilyon, 59, Bonners Ferry, (right) was formally charged this
afternoon with two counts of aggravated battery for a shooting incident that
occurred at his home on Highway 2 near the Montana state line Tuesday evening in
which two people were injured. Bond was set at $250,000 and a preliminary
hearing is to be scheduled within 21 days.
Sheriffs deputies in Boundary County and Lincoln County, Montana, were alerted to the shooting at about 8:27 p.m. March 2; Boundary County by Bettilyon, who called from his home and reported his home had been broken into and that he’d been attacked; Lincoln county by the victims, who fled the home and crossed into Montana to report the incident from the Stateline Tavern.
The victims were Bobbie Ann McGee, 45, who has lived with Bettilyon for about two years, and her former husband, William Eugene Tramell, also 45. Tramell suffered a grazing gunshot wound to the chest and the bullet pierced his arm, McGee suffered abdominal wounds from bullet fragments. Both were transported to St. John’s Hospital, Libby, Montana. Bettilyon was injured during the scuffle at his residence, during which the weapon discharged. None of the injuries was life threatening.