Wyoming airman accused of manslaughter after fatal shooting

Desmond Milligan · August 19

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A second airman in a month at a U.S. Air Force base in Wyoming stands accused of involuntary manslaughter for a shooting death.

F.E. Warren Air Force Base Airman First Class Jadan Orr, 20, remained jailed on Monday after he allegedly shot a man in a Cheyenne apartment early Saturday, according to police and sheriff’s officials.

Orr and several friends had been drinking at the apartment for most of the night when Orr and two others went into another room and Orr began handling an AK-47 rifle, according to a Cheyenne Police Department statement.

Orr allegedly fired the weapon through a wall, hitting the 23-year-old in the torso. Police arrived to find several people outside trying to help the man, who died at the scene, the statement added.

Orr was charged with involuntary manslaughter, according to Laramie County Circuit Court. He did not have an attorney on file to comment on his behalf.

Neither Cheyenne police nor the Laramie County coroner had publicly identified the victim as of Monday. Police referred questions about the victim’s identity to Coroner Rebecca Reid, who did not immediately return a phone message.

Officials at the base just outside Cheyenne announced on Aug. 12 that an airman had been arrested on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter, obstructing justice and making a false statement in connection with the July 20 shooting death of another airman. The victim was identified as Brayden Lovan, 21, of the 90th Security Forces Squadron, 90th Missile Wing.

The shooting led the U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command to suspend use of Sig Sauer’s M18 handgun.

The weapon has been the subject of lawsuits in which plaintiffs allege the gun is susceptible to firing without the trigger being pulled. Other military branches have continued to use the gun.

Unlike in the latest case, the airman stood accused in military, as opposed to civilian, court. The Air Force had not yet released the identity of the accused airman and other details of the earlier shooting, saying Monday it was still under investigation.

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