Trial begins in shooting incident

Chris Gunderson has multiple healing bullet holes, but he’s lucky the half-dozen gunshot wounds he received in a Post Falls altercation last year didn’t kill him.

Gunderson, 46, was among witnesses in a three-day jury trial in Coeur d’Alene that began Monday for an Athol man who reportedly told police he shot Gunderson in self defense.

Keven C. Custer, 27, who is on trial for a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, was arrested outside a St. Vincent de Paul housing facility around 8 p.m. on Oct. 4. The arrest came just minutes after Custer allegedly shot Gunderson six times and fled the Ross Point facility on the 3800 block of east Second Avenue.

He returned shortly afterward and called police, according to a report.

Post Falls officers said Custer’s demeanor at the time of his arrest, his statements to police and physical characteristics led officers to believe Custer may have been high on methamphetamine at the time of shooting.

Custer had been living at the St. Vincent facility off and on with his ex-girlfriend, although he wasn’t allowed to, and had been trespassed by St. Vincent de Paul personnel, according to Monday’s testimony.

He returned in the evening to retrieve some items and Gunderson, a friend of Custer’s girlfriend’s, was at the apartment. An altercation began, Custer said, when Gunderson prevented Custer from leaving the apartment by barring his way. Gunderson allegedly demanded Custer turn over a Springfield 9 mm firearm that Custer kept in a holster on his hip, took one of his magazines and struck Custer once, knocking out a tooth.

That is when Custer drew his firearm, he told police after the incident.

“I can’t believe I shot him,” Custer told officers. “I knew I shouldn’t have gone inside (the apartment).”

When she talked with Custer at the scene, Post Falls patrol officer Kellsey Torres said the defendant had blood in the corner of his mouth. She said the firearm was lying near apartment 16, where Gunderson was lying on his back as neighbors attempted to stabilize him before medics arrived. He suffered bullet wounds to an arm, his stomach, throat area, and chest, according to a report. Torres took Custer’s empty magazine while another officer found, and placed the 9 mm in a plastic bag.

Attorneys questioned witnesses Monday in First District Court including several members of the Post Falls Police Department, as well as area residents who helped Gunderson.

When officers asked Custer how many times he shot Gunderson, he said, “You shoot until the gun goes click,” according to a police report.

The trial resumes today in the Kootenai County Justice Building at 324 W. Garden Ave. in Coeur d’Alene.