Henderson pleads guilty in Box Elder shooting

A Rock Boy man has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge stemming from a Nov. 26 incident at a gas station in Box Elder in which he repeatedly fired a rifle at a pickup with two adults and a 3-year-old child inside.

Garrison W. Henderson, born in 1993, pleaded guilty in state District Court in Havre to felony charges of assault with a weapon, amended from a charge of attempted deliberate homicide, and criminal endangerment along with a misdemeanor charge of reckless driving.

Judge Daniel Boucher set the sentencing hearing for July 23 pending a presentencing investigation. No sentencing recommendations were listed in the plea agreement.

Under the plea agreement, the prosecution will drop an additional assault with a weapon charge and another criminal endangerment charge.

Henderson was charged after Hill County sheriff's deputies and Rocky Boy police responded Nov. 26 to a report of a shootout outside of Jitterbugs. A witness reported that the shooter had driven from the scene, crashing into several cars before going off the road, leaving his pickup and running away across a field and hiding something in a tree.

Henderson told a deputy who found him hiding in tall grass that a man had pulled an assault rifle on him.

Jarod Parker told the deputy that he had arrived at the store and Henderson, who appeared drunk, was parked at the gas pump. Henderson started yelling at Parker and waving his hands around, he said.

Parker said, Henderson grabbed a rifle when Parker got out of his truck. He got back into his own truck, and then Henderson approached and first pointed the rifle at Parker through the side window, then struck Parker's truck's windshield with the stock of the rifle, breaking the rifle stock, then returned to his own pickup.

When he got to his vehicle, Henderson turned and fired six to eight rounds at Parker's truck, Parker said, with himself, his girlfriend and his 3-year-old daughter inside.