Accident victim remembered

COEUR d'ALENE — Whether Andrew Riggs-Wiedmaier was demonstrating his karate skills or enjoying outdoor sports, the 22-year-old enjoyed life to the fullest.

The Coeur d'Alene man was identified on Tuesday as the passenger and victim who died as a result of an apparent crash along Fernan Lake Road early Monday.

"He left four kids behind and the fourth was just born on Friday," said Morgan Vaughn, girlfriend of Riggs-Wiedmaier's brother, Tony, adding Andrew worked as a server at Golden Corral.

The driver of the 1997 Ford Ranger that apparently went down an embankment and came to rest just above the water line was Dylan Martz, 22, Coeur d'Alene.

Martz was not seriously injured. No charges have been filed and an investigation continues. Autopsy and toxicology results may take several weeks.

Riggs-Wiedmaier was pulled from the lake by Martz and another person who responded to the site, according to the initial investigation by the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office.

Alcohol appears to be a contributing factor and an investigation is underway to determine how Riggs-Wiedmaier ended up in the water, according to the KCSO.

Medical aid was rendered and Riggs-Wiedmaier was transported to Kootenai Health, where he was later pronounced dead.

Acquaintances of the two men describe them as best friends who played football together for Lake City High School.

Meanwhile, about two hours after a balloon release ceremony was held at Independence Point in Coeur d'Alene on Monday night, gunshots damaged the Coeur d'Alene home where Tony lives and that of a neighbor off Atlas Road.

Vaughn said she and Tony wondered at first if the shots reported around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday were somehow linked to Andrew's death, but after learning the shots had gone through the home behind them before reaching theirs, they believe it was a random coincidence.

"It was just a really bad day," Vaughn said. "It wasn't our house that was targeted. But we didn't know if someone was trying to kill us or what at first."

No one was injured in either residence, said Jared Reneau, Coeur d'Alene Police spokesman.

Reneau said three shots entered a home on Descartes Drive and two of those then reached the townhouse in which Tony and Vaughn live on Cornwall Street in Coeur d'Alene Place.

"We thought the (gunshots) were fireworks going off at first because neighbors have been shooting them," Vaughn said.

One of the bullets went through the front window near where Tony had just been sitting, she said.

The other was stopped by her son's car in the garage.

There were four people in the townhouse at the time, including Vaughn's 17-year-old son and his girlfriend.

Vaughn said they huddled in a bathroom during the chaos and saw the residents of the home behind them being evacuated out an upstairs window.

"They were trying to get them out because they thought the gunman was inside the house," she said.

The alleged shooter, Travis Duff, 28, Coeur d'Alene, was arrested behind his residence on Harris Hawk Lane in the vicinity of where the gunfire occurred. Duff lives in the Hawk's Nest subdivision across Atlas Road.

According to police, Duff had a handgun with him at the time and was not immediately cooperative. Police report Duff was given commands to drop the gun, which he did. However, when he would not move away from the handgun, officers used a Taser stun gun to control his movements and Duff was arrested without further incident.

Duff later admitted to firing three rifle rounds in the direction of the Coeur d’Alene Place subdivision, Reneau said.

Duff was charged with two felony counts of unlawful discharge of a firearm into an occupied dwelling and obstructing.

The motive for the shooting is not clear although initial information indicates Duff was not targeting the residences that were hit, Reneau said.