Whitefish man pleads innocent in road rage shooting

A Whitefish man has pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of assault with a weapon in a recent road rage incident.

Christopher Robert Showen, 34, entered the plea Aug. 21 in Flathead County District Court.

According to court documents, on Aug. 2 the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office received a report of shots being fired on Trumble Creek Road. The alleged victim and his girlfriend stated they were riding their motorcycle when a male passenger in a Toyota Camry pulled out a gun and fired three rounds.

Based on the license plate, officers located the vehicle at Showen’s residence, where they spoke with Showen and his wife, Jennifer Showen.

Jennifer Showen said she was driving on Montana 35 near Bigfork when she attempted to pass a motorcycle. According to Jennifer, the motorcycle sped up and forced her to pull back into traffic, which scared her.

She told officers she didn’t recall shooting the gun but she keeps a Beretta .40-caliber handgun in the center section of the front seat of her vehicle. Court documents state that officers found the gun where she said it would be and spoke with Christopher Showen, who admitted he was the passenger in the vehicle driven by his wife.

Officers recovered three shell casings from the highway.

Bond has been set at $100,000 for Christopher Showen, who will appear for an omnibus hearing Sept. 17. A defense motion for bond reduction was denied.

Jennifer Showen contacted the Inter Lake shortly after the Aug. 2 incident. She said that the woman on the back of the motorcycle made an obscene gesture at her vehicle, which she and Christopher returned.

She said that no shots were fired from the vehicle while it was moving. “Three shots were fired into the air,” she said. “I’m not going to say who fired the gun.”

In 2004, Showen was convicted in Palmer, Alaska, for a shooting incident.

He was accused of firing two shots from a handgun into the air and then five shots toward people at a bonfire. The shots came from a moving vehicle.

Charges were reduced to misdemeanor reckless endangerment and he was sentenced to one year in jail.

Christopher Showen was acquitted of the 1999 murder of 19-year-old Carl C.J. Storkson, a childhood friend. He had been accused of shooting Storkson and then burning the victim’s car and burying his body.