An 18-year-old Bottineau, N.D., man has been arrested in the shooting deaths Tuesday of two employees of a hog farm in Bottineau County.
Jeremy Isaac Rodriguez Rios was charged Wednesday with two counts of murder, both Class AA felonies, in connection with the deaths of Brian James Story, 37, and Christopher Rusk Sluder, 50, according to the probable cause affidavit released by the Bottineau County Sheriff's Department.
All three were employees of Turtle Mountain Pork, a commercial hog operation located between Landa, N.D., and Souris, N.D. Souris is about 75 miles northeast of Minot.
According to the affidavit, the sheriff's department and other emergency agencies responded to a 911 call at 8:17 a.m. Tuesday that indicated two employees, one inside and one outside the building, were unconscious.
When Sheriff Steve Watson arrived at the scene at 8:32 a.m., he identified two deceased males, both having sustained gunshot wounds. One was located in a hallway connecting two of the hog barns while the other was in a hog barn, on a walkway between pigpens, the affidavit said.
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The sheriff also observed multiple 9 mm Winchester Luger ammunition spent cartridges near one of the victims.
Based on interviews with employees, police determined that Sluder, the hog complex manager, was shot between 6:53 a.m. and 8:17 a.m. Tuesday, the report said.
Employees also told authorities that Rodriguez Rios was among a group of employees who allegedly had engaged in a verbal altercation Monday afternoon with Sluder and Story about employee work performance, the report said. Story was part of an employee development program with the company.
Rodriguez Rios was arrested after officers questioned him about a picture of a black handgun that had been posted to his Facebook page 10 days earlier, the affidavit said. Officers then obtained a search warrant for the suspect's apartment, which yielded a firearms case for a 9 mm handgun, a box of Winchester 9 mm ammunition and a cell phone. The 9 mm handgun was not located.
According to the affidavit, Rodriguez Rios admitted that he shot both victims and that he disposed of the handgun in a sewage pit located below the hog barns.
The sheriff's department was assisted by the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation, U.S. Border Patrol, Renville County Sheriff's Office, McHenry County Sheriff's Office, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the North Dakota Game and Fish Department.
