Oil City News14%
All charges bound over for two teens accused of shooting at youths in downtown Casper 14%
By Greg Hirst4%
8/1/2026, 3:36:04 PM
Keywords: Shooting, Teens, Charges, District Court, Aggravated Assault, Property Destruction, Weapon Possession, Casper, Wyoming
BS Summary: This article contains 9 faulty reasoning types, including Confirmation Bias, Overconfidence Bias, and Framing Effect, with Unattributed Quote as the most egregious example at 25% saturation with 210 hits. Analysis detected 552 faulty-reasoning hits from 841 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 25.3% and a BS Rank of 14% (21,975 of 25,284 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 86.90% of the article peer group.
CASPER, Wyo. — All charges have been bound over to district court for two Natrona County teenagers accused of firing shots toward a group of minors in the parking lot behind David Street Station on Tuesday, July 14, shortly before midnight.
Casper Police Department Detective Valerie Meier said in a preliminary hearing this week that the suspects’ faces and a vehicle registration were visible in the security footage from the Jeffree Star store, which she said was “better than most we get.”
16-year-old Tanas Laqunae Welch, was arrested that Thursday and faced charges in circuit court on Friday, July 17.
Bar Nunn resident Quincy Jonathan Eureste, 18, was arrested over the next weekend and heard an identical set of charges, including one count of aggravated assault and battery for each of the five youths they are accused of shooting at.
They are presumed innocent unless found or pleading guilty.
M Meier said the “suspect group” is seen pulling into the parking lot in various videos and engaging in “horseplay,” which Meier said appeared to them whipping each other with belts.
According statements discussed in the Casper police report, a group of three girls was on foot downtown when they said they were followed by a group of eight males, most of whom wore red shirts, after passing by the Jeffree Star store.
According to the report, two other minors in a truck said they saw the girls, who told them they were being harassed, so they pulled around into the lot close to the Station, where the three others met them.
Meier said the footage then shows eight of the suspect group closing in and encircling the other five near the truck.
One of the boys got said the group tried to provoke a fight.
Meier said one girl pulled out a pocket knife during the encounter.
Chief Deputy Blaine Nelson asked Meier whether the suspect group was still the “primary aggressor” with an unanswered solicitation to fight in this situation, and Meier agreed that they were.
She said the suspect group then began moving away from the vehicle before a heavier-set male in the group wearing a black shirt and black jeans fired about 4 times at an angle into the air, after which the suspect group runs back toward the cars and the other five take cover around the truck and behind a brick wall.
The footage reportedly shows a suspect in a red shirt and blue jeans taking cover behind a hatchback and shooting toward the group, while the heavy-set male who earlier fired in the air is also seen shooting toward the truck, the affidavit said.
M Meier said Welch was identified as the suspect in red from the vehicle registration and social media, and Eureste was readily identifiable through numerous social media photos of them and others in the suspect group together.
One of the group of minors said she heard bullets wizzing by as she ran for cover.
Police said no one appeared to have been injured in the shootout.
M Meier said Thursday that about 24 casing were found in the lot, roughly split between 9 mm and 10 mm casings.
One .22 LR round was found.
One the people in the suspect group told police he saw a gun on the ground and shot it after he picked it because he thought he was being shot at.
Welch waived his preliminary hearing last week, and will next enter a plea in district court.
Defense counsel Steve Iberlin represented Eureste at the preliminary hearing, pressing Meier on the quality of the footage and calling it the “weakest ID I’ve ever heard.”
Meier confirmed that no guns had been found at Eureste’s house during the warranted search, but Meier believe he had the 9 mm.
M Meier also admitted she couldn’t speak to the brand of the black shoes and clothes found during the search, but said a source within the suspect group corroborated the heavy-set suspect’s identity, along with nickname “Q30.”
Earlier in the hearing, Meier said they investigated Eureste’s alibi, which turned out to be a girl who said she’d been with another friend when Eureste showed up sometime “between 10 and 3” and she sent him away.
Iberlin asked about the reported $5,000 price tags on the beams struck by gunfire.
Meier said she wasn’t aware of any prospects for a simple repair, but that was the quoted cost.
Both defendants are charged with property destruction over $1,000, in addition to five aggravated assaults and possession of a deadly weapon with unlawful intent.
Iberlin asked Meier about the fact that heavy-set suspect had fired into the air at an angle during the initial discharge.
“That threat is expressed with the discharge of the firearm,” Meier said.
Judge Kevin Taheri elected to keep bond set at $100,000 cash or surety and said the issue of possible repair estimates for the beams could be taken up in district court.
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