Two arrested in fatal shooting of Idaho student

Received by Newsfinder from APSep 20, 2004 14:49 Eastern Time MOSCOW, Idaho (AP) _ Police chased and arrested two Seattle men on Interstate 90 near Vantage after the fatal shooting of a University of Idaho football player, Moscow police said Monday. Eric McMillan, 19, was pronounced dead at 4 a.m. Monday at Gritman Memorial Hospital of a single gunshot wound to the chest, Capt. Cam Hershaw said. University of Idaho football player Eric McMillan died this morning at Gritman Medical Center in Moscow of a single gunshot wound to the chest.And two Seattle men are charged with first-degree murder after leading police on a chase across the barrens of eastern Washington after the fatal shooting of U of I football player Eric McMillan in his Moscow apartment.McMillan, 19, of Murrieta, Calif., was shot once in the chest Sunday evening and died about 4 a.m. Monday at Moscow’s Gritman Medical Center. Brothers Matthew R. Wells, 27, and James J. Wells, 25, are accused of shooting McMillan in his off-campus apartment before driving away.The brothers led several Washington law enforcement agencies on a two-hour, 165-mile high-speed chase west on Washington 26, which ended when police deployed strips of hollow spikes that ripped apart the car’s tires near Vantage, Wash.Moscow police declined to talk Monday about what led to the shooting. But the first-degree murder charges that Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson filed against the Wells brothers require evidence of premeditation and planning.Matthew R. Wells II, 27, and his brother, James J. Wells, 25, both of Seattle, were booked into the Whitman County, Wash., Jail Sunday afternoon, Hershaw said. McMillan, a freshman from Murrieta, Calif., was a starting cornerback for the Idaho Vandals football team. He had three tackles in Idaho’s 49-8 loss to Washington State on Saturday. Coach Nick Holt said he would issue a statement after meeting with his team Monday afternoon. Officers responding to a citizen’s report of gunshots about 5:24 p.m. Sunday found that McMillan had been taken to the hospital in a private vehicle, Hershaw said. Witnesses gave police a description and license plate number of a late model car with two men inside seen speeding away from the scene. Whitman County sheriff’s deputies later spotted the vehicle and gave chase, joined by Colfax, Wash., police, the Washington State Patrol and Kittitas County, Wash. sheriff’s deputies, Hershaw said. The car was stopped using spike strip on Interstate 90 near Vantage, Hershaw said. McMillan, a sophomore majoring in business management and human resources, has two sisters, including a twin, U of I officials said.McMillan’s former high school coach, Wally Clark, said McMillan carried a 3.5 grade point average and was a popular athlete after moving from Alabama to Murrieta southeast of Los Angeles to live with an aunt.”If you wanted a son, you’d pick Eric McMillan. He affected everybody he was around,” Clark told The Associated Press. “He had a bubbly personality, a huge white smile, no enemies. Teachers used him as an example: ‘This is what you want to become.’ “Moscow Police Capt. Cam Hershaw declined to talk about any possible connection between McMillan and the Wells brothers. A news conference is planned this morning.Arrest warrants on first-degree murder charges were issued for the Wells brothers after Thompson presented evidence during a probable cause hearing Monday afternoon.Thompson declined to discuss details but noted a judge decided there was enough evidence to issue the warrants.Police pursued suspects in shooting across Washington for two hours at speeds of up to 100 mphHere’s what Moscow police, the Washington State Patrol, and Latah County prosecutors say happened:Moscow police received a call at about 5:24 p.m. Sunday reporting the sound of gunshots coming from an apartment at 1579 Lenter Ave., which Eric McMillan shared with another football player. Before police arrived, an unidentified person took McMillan in a car to Gritman Medical Center. Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson said police found no evidence of forced entry.Witnesses near the scene described seeing two men in a late-model, white BMW sedan driving away from the apartment. Whitman County, Wash., Sheriff’s Office deputies spotted the vehicle about 5:39 p.m. just south of Colfax and began a pursuit. They put down spike strips on Washington 26 near Colfax, which the BMW avoided before continuing westbound on 26, reaching speeds of up to 100 mph, according to the Washington State Patrol.The State Patrol used an airplane to track the BMW as pursuing officers slowed down and fell back, Trooper Jim Hays said. The chase ended about 7:39 p.m. as the BMW approached Interstate 90. Troopers put down spike strips on both lanes and the berms of Washington 26 near its intersection with Washington 243. The car hit the spikes, which flattened three of its tires. The car traveled about a mile on the flat tires and merged on to Interstate 90, before stopping on the Vantage Bridge over the Columbia River. Troopers blocked traffic and arrested Matthew R. Wells, 27, and James J. Wells, 25, at gunpoint.Hays said troopers did not find any guns in the BMW, but pursuing officers reported seeing the Wells brothers throw objects out of the vehicle several times during the lengthy chase.”We had two suspects here who were reportedly armed, so we had to be careful,” Hays said, explaining the decision to back off the chase and follow with a plane. “We used all our resources to do this.”The Wells brothers were charged with felony eluding and taken to the Whitman County Jail, where they remained Monday. They later were charged with first-degree murder.