Gavin R. Scollard and William W. Cronon

Gavin R. Scollard, left, and William W. Cronon, right.

POCATELLO — A man asleep in his camper near the top of Trail Creek Road yelled at someone breaking in through his door early Thursday, and shots came through his window in response, according to a Bannock County Sheriff's Office incident report.

The two Power County men now facing felony charges over that gunfire fled into a ravine afterward triggering a standoff with deputies that stretched nearly two hours.

William W. Cronon, 58, and Gavin R. Scollard, 44, both of Power County, each face a felony count of discharging a firearm at a mobile home, according to criminal complaints filed Thursday in 6th District Court. Scollard alone faces an additional felony count of aggravated assault on certain personnel, accused of firing shots in the direction of law enforcement officers, during the standoff.

Prosecutors have also filed notice they will seek a deadly weapon sentencing enhancement against both men, and a persistent violator enhancement against Scollard, citing his prior felony convictions.

The court records contrast with Thursday's initial Bannock County Sheriff's Office news release, which described both men as facing aggravated assault charges. The court complaints show that count applies only to Scollard, at least based on the filings reviewed by the Idaho State Journal Friday morning.

Bannock County officials said the release reflected initial booking charges, not the final charges the prosecutor's office files after reviewing the full investigation.

Deputies were dispatched around 2 a.m. Thursday to a report of two men shooting into a motorhome camped in the Trail Creek area, according to the sheriff's office release.

The motorhome's owner was not hurt, and the two men had left the scene before deputies arrived.

According to a Bannock County Sheriff's Office incident report, the motorhome's owner told investigators he was asleep in his camper near the top of Trail Creek Road when he heard a vehicle approach from the front. Someone asked if he was inside, and he said he didn't respond because he didn't recognize the voice.

2 men arrested after shots fired at motorhome, hourslong standoff near Trail Creek.1

An aerial view from a Bannock County Sheriff’s Office drone shows the motorhome in the Trail Creek area where a shooting incident began around 2 a.m. Thursday. Deputies responded to a report of suspects firing into the motorhome.

He then heard the camper's front door begin to open, sat up and yelled "what the hell are you doing," at which point shots were fired through the window, the report states. He told investigators he didn't see who opened the door and wasn't sure what, if anything, was said afterward.

The two men left in what he described to investigators as a truck, possibly with a camper shell, though the vehicle deputies later tied to the suspects was a green Ford Explorer, court records show.

The report says the vehicle returned down the mountain past the camper 10 to 15 minutes later, and the owner told investigators he recognized the taillights before relaying updates to dispatch as the vehicle continued toward Pocatello.

Responding deputies secured the area and issued a temporary shelter-in-place order for nearby residents, according to the release.

A drone was launched to search for the men, and within 20 minutes, law enforcement spotted the pair holding firearms in a ravine north of Trail Creek. The men fired their guns again during the search, possibly at the drone, the sheriff's office said.

The incident report offers a more detailed account of the standoff.

Deputies initially approached with lights and sirens before going dark to close in quietly, at one point clearing an unrelated, unoccupied vehicle with a sleeping man inside near the scene, according to the report.

Idaho State Police and Pocatello police drones located heat signatures near a vehicle roughly 200 yards up the trail, with Pocatello police parking a patrol vehicle on Trail Creek Road for officers to use as cover.

2 men arrested after shots fired at motorhome, hourslong standoff near Trail Creek.2

Following the surrender of two armed suspects, law enforcement vehicles from assisting agencies line Trail Creek Road. A Bannock County Sheriff’s Office drone captured this image while deputies and special response teams were processing the scene.

While officers took cover behind that vehicle, the suspects fired approximately three to four rounds in their direction, according to the report. Officers repositioned behind a second patrol vehicle, and the suspects fired roughly seven more rounds. One deputy told investigators a round passed close enough overhead that he heard it whistle before a thud landed behind him, and he believed he was being directly targeted.

The Southeast Idaho Special Tactics and Response, or STAR, Team was called in to assist. According to the incident report, one suspect eventually began walking toward officers while holding a rifle across both arms, initially ignoring commands to drop it. He put the rifle down but then reached toward his waistband, prompting officers to again order him to raise his hands, which he did before being taken into custody without further incident at 3:12 a.m., the release states.

The STAR Team took over communications with the second suspect at 3:25 a.m. after he refused to surrender and continued holding a firearm, according to the release.

Continuous negotiations, along with canine units and spotlights from the drone, eventually led to his surrender, and he was taken into custody at 3:55 a.m.

Investigators later found two weapons in bushes southwest of the suspects' vehicle, an ammunition box under a tree northwest of it, and empty casings behind the vehicle, along with roughly seven more spent casings in bushes along the trail, the incident report says.

The vehicle itself was painted black with clothing draped over its front and back license plates, and its windshield had a spidered crack on the passenger side that appeared recent, according to the report.

No injuries were reported among the victim, the suspects or responding officers, according to the release.

"This was a best-case scenario for a high-risk call," Sheriff Tony Manu said in the release. "I'm exceptionally proud of our deputies, the STAR Team, and our regional partners. Their professional coordination and patience brought a potentially dangerous situation to a peaceful resolution."

The Bannock County Sheriff's Office was assisted by the Pocatello Police Department, Chubbuck Police Department, Idaho State Police, Bannock County Ambulance District and the Southeast Idaho STAR Team, according to the release.

Both men were booked into the Bannock County Detention Center. The shelter-in-place order has since been lifted, but West Trail Creek Road remains temporarily closed from the cattle guard to the county line while investigators process the scene.

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