04/08/2008

Associated Press

A man was shot north of Colville and died on the way to the hospital, apparently before the car in which friends were taking him crashed.

Stevens County Sheriff Craig Thayer says 25-year-old John Leland Nixon was dead when he reached Mount Carmel Hospital in Colville early Sunday.

One of two men who had been firing guns outdoors with Nixon, 20-year-old Victor Buddy Brown, is being held for investigation of manslaughter and unlawful possession of a firearm.

A neighbor, Del Scarlett, says Nixon was shot in the stomach after the three went into a trailer thinking the guns were unloaded. Scarlett says everyone present believes Nixon was shot by accident.

Thayer says Brown is a convicted felon and is thus barred from having firearms.

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Information from: The Spokesman-Review, http://www.spokesmanreview.com