One Feather Staff Report
A man is in custody facing three felony charges following a fatal shooting at the McDonald’s at 748 Casino Trail on the evening of Friday, Feb. 25. Rider Lucas Sneed, 20, of Cherokee, has been charged with Homicide in the Second Degree, Assault with Deadly Weapon with Intent to Kill and Inflicting Serious Injury, and Aggravated Reckless Endangerment in the Feb. 25 shooting that left Chase Crowe dead and John Wayne Malpass Jr. injured. Sneed was taken into custody on the early morning of Saturday, Feb. 26.
According to information from the Cherokee Indian Police Dept., “Cherokee Indian Police Dept. (CIPD) Officers responded to a report of shots fired at the McDonald’s at 748 Casino Trail in Cherokee at approximately 11:22 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 25.”
The Criminal Complaint filed (Feb. 26) on the homicide charge in the case alleges, “On the date and time of the offense, the defendant did cause the death of the victim, Chase Crowe, by firing a semi-auto handgun and striking the victim about the body, causing serious bodily injuries, which resulted in the victim’s death.”
The assault charges allege, “The defendant unlawfully assaulted John Wayne Malpass Jr. with a deadly weapon and inflicted serious injury. On the date and time of the offense, the defendant did discharge a semi-auto handgun in a public vehicle area of business (McDonald’s) in which a fired projectile did strike the victim in the neck causing serious bodily injury.”
According to information from the Cherokee Tribal Court, Sneed is still in custody. The One Feather has filed a Freedom of Information request with the CIPD for the incident report, but that has not been received as of press time.
At this time, Sneed has only been charged with the crimes listed above and should be considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
