Sep. 25—A Kalispell man arrested in 2023 for shooting a teenager in Marion later received a seven-year prison stint.
Ross Barker, 72, pleaded not guilty to one felony count of assault with a weapon in Flathead County District Court following the July 28, 2023 shooting near Moose Crossing. But he struck a deal with prosecutors in June 2024 that saw him change his tune.
In exchange for admitting to violating the terms of his probation in a separate criminal endangerment case and pleading guilty to assault with a weapon charge, prosecutors agreed to end their efforts to designate him a persistent felony offender.
Under the terms of the agreement, prosecutors were to recommend Barker receive seven years prison time for the assault with a weapon case and serve out a remaining two years and nine months with the state Department of Corrections for the probation violation at his sentencing.
Judge Dan Wilson, who presided over the case, stuck to the terms of the deal at Barker’s Sept. 19, 2024 sentencing. He ordered the two sentences to run concurrently.
Barker is serving his sentence in the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility, a CoreCivic-owned prison in Mississippi.
Barker allegedly admitted to responding Flathead County Sheriff’s Office deputies to shooting the teenager with a small, derringer-type gun loaded with two 410 shotgun rounds, one containing rock salt and the other bird shot. He told deputies he used the bird shot on the teenager, court documents said. The victim told investigators that he and his sister were headed to a nearby camper when Barker confronted them, according to court documents. He allegedly asked them what they were doing before raising the gun and shooting the teen in the face.
Barker told deputies he suspected the teen of being behind a string of thefts in the area, court documents said. He said he “popped [the teen]in the face,” court documents alleged.
News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or [email protected].