Brownstown, Ind. – A teenager accused of killing a man and wounding another in a series of highway shootings had argued with relatives during a hunting trip and drove off in anger shortly before the attacks, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
Zachariah Blanton, 17, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of murder, attempted murder and three counts of criminal recklessness. He stared at the sidewalk as officers led him into the Jackson County Courthouse, where Circuit Judge William Vance set a tentative Dec. 13 trial date.
Blanton could face life in prison without parole.
Police believe that after the hunting trip argument, Blanton drove to a nearby overpass outside Seymour early Sunday, aimed his rifle over the trunk of his vehicle and fired at trucks on Interstate 65 about 60 miles south of Indianapolis.
One bullet killed a passenger in a pickup and another wounded a man. Two hours later, a tractor-trailer and unoccupied sport utility vehicle were hit by bullets about 100 miles to the north, close to the teenager’s hometown of Gaston.
“He said he in fact did do the shootings, however, only with the intention of relieving pressure,” John Kelly, an Indiana State Police crime-scene technician, testified at a hearing Tuesday.
The teen apparently had been arguing with relatives over gutting a deer during a hunting trip about 20 miles south of Seymour, said Jackson County Prosecutor Stephen Pierson.
When police questioned him Tuesday after receiving a tip that he might have been involved, his demeanor was “cooperative; it was remorseful,” said Sheriff George Sheridan Jr. of Delaware County, where the second set of shootings occurred.
The teen lived with his grandparents in Gaston, where detectives found the rifle they believe was used in the shootings, authorities said.
