Halloween‘s festive, hard-partying atmosphere was shattered in Laramie when a UW student was killed during one of two fights at house parties. Joseph McGowan, 21, was injured while attempting to intervene in a fight involving several individuals between the late hours of Friday night and early hours on Saturday.
Another fight took place in the 1100 block of Flint Ave., where UW student Luke McConville, 20, was severely injured and transported to a Denver-area hospital.
Police and witnesses say alcohol was a factor in the incidents.
McGowan, of Lander, died around 2 p.m. on Saturday at the Medical Center of the Rockies, where he was airlifted to after being brought to Ivinson Memorial Hospital by three friends immediately following the incident, according to the police affidavit.
The suspect, 20-year old Dalton Dale Williams, has been charged with second-degree murder or manslaughter. Williams, a Casper resident who is not a UW student, appeared in Circuit Court in Laramie yesterday morning where at $100,000 bond was set by Judge Robert Caster.
The fight took place on the front lawn area at 770 N 7th Street. Two individuals began throwing punches, when another individual from the party began walking to the fight and McGowan followed. Though no witnesses report seeing Williams actually hit McGowan, most say they heard the fall and turned to see McGowen lying with his head in the gutter, with his body on the lawn, according to the affidavit written by Commander Miles Cushman of the LPD.
Upon arriving at the hospital, Cushman’s report indicates a doctor on duty at IMH informed him McGowan had sustained severe trauma to the head and “that McGowan would probably die from his injuries” and if not fatal, his injuries would have left him with “very little function” and “would most likely be in a vegetative state.”
McConville, from Casper, sustained serious head injuries during the second fight. McConville’s critical condition had improved on Sunday, UW Police Chief Mike Samp said in a SweetwaterNow article. The suspects in this case are still at large as the UWPD look for a male between 5 foot 8 and 5 foot 10 inches tall. Two more men and one female are also being sought out by police in connection with the incident.
Williams has been charged with second-degree murder, where a Defendant “did, purposely and maliciously, but without premeditation, kill another human being.”
An alternative charge of manslaughter was brought forth from E. Kurt Britzius, Deputy County and Prosecuting Attorney in and for Albany County. Manslaughter, where the Defendant “did unlawfully kill a hum [sic] being without malice, expressed or implied, voluntarily, upon a sudden heat of passion,” is a less serious charge than first or second-degree murder.
Casper attorney Thomas L. Smith signed the court docket yesterday morning. The Branding Iron contacted Smith’s office who declined to comment, but did indicate Williams was being represented by Smith. William’s preliminary hearing will take place Nov. 12 at 1 p.m. at the Albany County Courthouse.
Anyone with information about the suspects in the McConville assault should contact UWPD at 307-766-5179 or send an anonymous tip by text with keyword “UWYO” at 847411 or Tip411.
Counseling services are available throughout UW Counseling Center by calling 307-766-2187 or 307-766-8989 after regular business hours.
