Three charged in RWF shooting

Suspects arrested 20 minutes after

fleeing the scene

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

REDWOOD FALLS -- The three people charged in the triple shooting here Saturday were arrested minutes after their alleged crime.

Police were called to the scene of house party-turned-fatal shooting early Saturday morning where three men were rushed to the Redwood Area Hospital with gunshot wounds.

Nearly 20 minutes later, a Lower Sioux Tribal Police officer stopped a vehicle matching the description of the car that witnesses said the alleged shooters used to flee the scene. The car had a flat rear tire and was driving on its wheel rim.

The officer, David Hester, saw four people inside the black Pontiac Bonneville as he approached it after the stop. Hester noticed blood on one of the passenger's hands. Hester later discovered blood on the man's ears and shoes. He found two pistols inside the car, court documents said.

Of the four people arrested that evening, three -- Itanca Henry, Sr,. 25, of New Hope, James Cletius Mata, 30 and Todd Benjamin Skipintheday, 24, both of Minneapolis -- were charged with the shooting that seriously injured Michael Lewis O'Brien of Redwood Falls and Hunter Parker of Morton.

The wounded men were being treated at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale on Monday. O'Brien was in serious condition while Parker was in fair condition.

The third victim, Jarvis Joseph Wabasha, 27, died at Redwood Falls Hospital later that day.

Mata and Henry are charged with one count of aiding and abetting murder in the second degree, two counts of aiding and abetting attempted murder in the second degree and two counts of aiding and abetting assault in the first degree each.

Skipintheday is charged with three counts of accomplice after the fact-murder in the second degree and two counts of accomplice after the fact-assault in the first degree.

Redwood Falls Police Chief Mark Dressen said police have not determined the motive for the shooting. He said the evidence collected at the scene of the arrest and the shooting is undergoing testing by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in St. Paul. Police and BCA agents are still interviewing people in Redwood Falls.

Bail was set for all three men Monday afternoon at $1 million each. They are in custody in the Redwood County Jail in Redwood Falls. Redwood County Attorney Michelle Dietrich said she has no plans to file additional charges at this time.

The second-degree murder charges against Mata and Henry have a 40-year maximum sentence, while the attempted murder and assault charges have 20 years each. Skipintheday is facing similar maximum sentences for allegedly being an accomplice-after-the-fact.

The arrests were made after police received information that a "four-door dark-colored vehicle" had left the scene of the shooting. Twenty minutes after the initial call came in, Hester made a traffic stop on a black four-door Pontiac Bonneville.

When Hester approached the vehicle, he saw four people inside. He identified them as Skipintheday, Mata and Henry, court records say. The driver of the car was not charged and was released from jail Saturday evening.

Hester saw that Henry's shirt was turned inside-out and his hands were covered in blood, court records said. He asked Henry to step out of the car and saw blood smears on his ear and blood spatters on his shoes. Henry allegedly denied having any blood stains and didn't have any injuries that could account for the blood.

Court documents said Hester later found a Glock semi-automatic handgun in the console area of the front seat of the car and a loaded handgun magazine in the same place. A second pistol was found sticking out under the rear passenger seat.

Police took a statement from the driver, who said she picked up the three men in Minneapolis and drove them to Redwood Falls. The three were looking for a place to party and went to a house in Redwood Falls early Saturday morning, where victims Michael Lewis O'Brien of Redwood Falls and Hunter Parker were also partying.

According to the driver's statement, a fight between Henry and Parker broke out later, where the two of them were allegedly flashing gang hand signs. They went outside onto the front yard. Wabasha allegedly got a Tec-9 submachine gun from another partygoer, at which point the driver left the area, heard gunshots and then went back to pick up Henry, Mata and Skipintheday.

The complaint said Skipintheday admitted being at the scene at the time of the shooting and identified Mata as one of the shooters.

Dressen said police aren't sure whether or not the shooting was the product of gang activity and are unsure if any of the three suspects charged are, in fact, gang members. Everyone involved in the shooting has a prior criminal history, ranging from speeding to fifth-degree assault.

Dressen confirmed that Hunter Parker, one of the two survivors, is the brother of Frank William Parker, who was shot and killed on the Lower Sioux Agency in June 2002.