Former corrections employee to stand trial in killing

GREAT BEND, Kan. (AP) - A judge has found sufficient evidence for a former correctional employee to stand trial in a fatal western Kansas shooting.

The Great Bend-Tribune (https://bit.ly/2483EYM ) reports the ruling was issued after Freddie Alec Thomas appeared in Barton County District Court on Thursday for a preliminary hearing. Thomas is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of 39-year-old Jeremy Alan Saldana outside a Great Bend home.

The shooting happened after Thomas went to the home with a woman whom Saldana previously dated. Saldana was living with the woman’s daughter and grandchildren but wasn’t at the home when the visit began. Witnesses testified that a pushing match ensued when the unarmed Saldana arrived, and he was shot.

An Ellsworth Correctional Facility spokesman says Thomas hasn’t worked at the facility since last September.

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Information from: Great Bend (Kan.) Tribune, https://www.gbtribune.com