BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - A Montana man has been charged with fatally shooting a 63-year-old construction worker at a job site near the North Dakota border.
Raymond Blair Hansen, 35, of Sidney was charged with deliberate homicide in the death of Terry Klein.
Hansen was arraigned Thursday in Richland County Justice Court, where Judge Gregory Mohr set a $2 million bond.
Hansen initially told the judge he did not want an attorney, but later changed his mind and will be appointed a public defender, Mohr said. Hansen was being held Friday at the county jail.
The victim was working for Franz Construction at a worksite next to a breached irrigation canal south of Sidney at the time of Wednesday’s shooting, Richland County Sheriff John Dynneson said in a statement.
Klein, of Sidney, suffered at least one gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy was performed Thursday but the sheriff’s office did not yet have results early Friday.
Hansen was believed to have acted alone and was arrested less than two hours after the shooting.
Authorities were investigating a possible motive. The sheriff’s office declined to say if a weapon had been recovered.
A charge of deliberate homicide is equivalent to a murder charge and carries the death penalty in Montana. An arraignment for Hansen in state District Court was scheduled for September 14.
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