Police in Missoula have arrested 25-year-old Glen Burkey in connection with a tragic drive-by shooting that killed 13-year-old Gavin Looper, a student at Peperzak Middle School in Spokane.
Burkey was taken into custody on Wednesday after a SWAT team surrounded a home in the 2400 block of Clark Fork Lane in Missoula. Officers used flash bang devices before Burkey surrendered without a fight. Authorities from Montana, Spokane, and the FBI all worked together to bring him in, according to a statement from Missoula police.
Once Burkey is brought back to Spokane, he will face multiple serious charges, including drive-by shooting, second-degree murder, and second-degree assault, according to Spokane police.
The heartbreaking incident happened early Saturday morning around 2:40 a.m. Gavin was at his father’s friend’s house in north Spokane, sitting on a bed and playing video games when a bullet came through the back door and hit him in the head. His mother, Renee Rogers, shared that he died instantly.
Court records reveal that security cameras in the neighborhood captured five gunshots before a man was seen running away. Then, six more shots rang out from another area. When police investigated, they discovered that five bullets had hit the door behind which Gavin had been sitting.
Investigators later learned that Burkey and a friend had been drinking all day Saturday before the shooting. That night, Burkey’s friend picked him up so they could go looking for cocaine. They ended up in the Bemiss neighborhood, but the friend, who was heavily intoxicated, said he couldn’t remember much else. The next morning, he heard that a teen had been shot in the same area.
According to court documents, Burkey’s friend later learned that Burkey had been running down the street while another man was shooting at him. Two other witnesses in the neighborhood that night said they had dropped off a friend known as “Muggsy.” When they later picked him up, he was running from gunfire, saying he had been ripped off.
When one of Burkey’s friends later called him and told him to turn himself in, Burkey dismissed the suggestion, saying he “sounded like the police” before hanging up.
This isn’t the first time Burkey has been in trouble for a shooting. A witness told police that he had been arrested before at the same home on East Heroy Avenue for a similar incident. She immediately recognized him because of his build. Court records also show that Burkey had been tried for a drive-by shooting in 2017, but that case was dismissed.
Gavin’s mother, Renee Rogers, described the shooting as a tragic and random event. “I live a good, safe, healthy life. My kids aren’t involved in bad things,” she said. “My innocent boy getting caught in that is enraging me.”
This heartbreaking case is still under investigation, and more details are expected to emerge.
