A second complaint related to an incident early Sunday morning near Wilton was filed today, accusing 37-year-old Travis Gunning, of Gully, with aggravated first degree robbery and aiding an offender with second degree murder after the fact.
Gunning’s girlfriend, 30-year-old Rebecca Lockman of Bemidji, had a complaint filed against her Monday for aiding Gunning evade persecution with a first degree assault.
A warrant was issued Tuesday in Beltrami County for Gunning’s arrest.
According to this complaint, first responders arrived at the home on Trengove Rd. NW, near Bemidji and Wilton, around 12:34 a.m. Sunday, to find a residence fully engulfed in flames and a male suffering from gunshot wounds in an adjacent outbuilding.
The male, “B.M.,” told investigators that he had exchanged gunfire after a person in a dark car fired the first shot. He also said that his roommate, “J.M.,” was unaccounted for.
Law enforcement found the remains of a man inside the burning residence, with the man matching the description of J.M. He appeared to have a bullet wound to the head, and deputies found evidence that the fire was started intentionally.
After further investigation, law enforcement believed Gunning and Lockman to be traveling in an SUV, with a nationwide alert on the vehicle sent out. Gunning and Lockman were arrested in Minot, North Dakota, on the night of May 3.
Gunning is being treated at a Minot hospital for a gunshot wound to the foot from the gunfire exchange with B.M.
Gunning, according to the complaint, confessed to committing an aggravated robbery which resulted in J.M.’s death. He claimed he took his father’s .22 caliber pistol, his father’s Buick LeSaber and drove to Beltrami County with his girlfriend, Lockman, and a third suspect.
Gunning claimed that he and the third suspect, who has not been named, hatched a plan to commit aggravated robbery, with the plan to steal a safe believed to contain a large amount of money and drugs. Gunning then claimed that after he took possession of a 9 mm handgun and some drugs, he exited the residence on Trengove and heard a gun shot.
Gunning claimed that he entered the house again, saw J.M. with a bullet wound to the back of the head, and then the unnamed suspect, Gunning and Lockman fled the scene in a vehicle. Gunning claimed Lockman stopped on Jones Townhall Road and that the third suspect fled the vehicle.
The incident remains under investigation.
