Two Seattle Men Arrested In Shooting Of University Of Idaho Football Player

Matthew R. Wells II, 27, and his brother, James J. Wells, 25, both of Seattle, were arrested and booked into the Whitman County, Wash., jail Sunday afternoon, after leading police on a chase across the barrens of eastern Washington. The Wells brothers are charged with the first degree murder of University of Idaho starting cornerback, sophomore Eric McMillan. McMillan, from Murrieta, Calif., was shot in his off-campus apartment in Moscow, Idaho. According to Moscow Police Capt. Cam Hershaw, McMillan was pronounced dead at 4 a.m. Monday at Gritman Memorial Hospital of a single gunshot wound to the chest. According to reports, Moscow police received a call at about 5:24 p.m. Sunday reporting the sound of gunshots coming from McMillan’s apartment, which he shared with another football player. Before police arrived, an unidentified person took McMillan in a car to Gritman Medical Center. Witnesses near the scene described seeing two men in a late-model, white BMW sedan driving away from the apartment. Whitman County 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 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 the two Seattle men at gunpoint. No guns were found inside the BMW, but pursuing officers reported seeing the Wells brothers throw objects out of the vehicle several times during the lengthy chase. McMillan, 19, was a sophomore majoring in business management and human resources. He has two sisters, including a twin, University of Idaho officials said. His 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 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.’ “