Charges allege attempted rape and murder in Cormier Road shooting

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A Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Deputy photographs a pickup truck at the scene of a shooting involving multiple victims on Cormier Road near Billings on Monday, January 30.

AMY LYNN NELSON, Billings Gazette

A man will appear in court on Thursday after being charged with attempting to rape a girl and shooting her and a woman on a rural road south of Billings.

Carl Chester Alden, 32, faces two counts of attempted murder, one count of attempted sexual intercourse without consent and two counts of assault with a weapon. He was also charged with two counts of assault with a weapon as an alternative to the two counts of attempted homicide. Both victims went to hospital with gunshot wounds to the head, including a 14-year-old girl being treated at a children’s hospital in Colorado.

First responders work at the scene of a shooting involving multiple victims on Cormier Road near Billings on Monday January 30th.

AMY LYNN NELSON, Billings Gazette

Deputies from the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office responded to a shooting in the 9900 Cormier Road area Monday, according to charging documents. The call took them about 20 miles south of Billings to an area almost entirely occupied by farmland. Deputies spoke with a man who was leveling the road when two people ran towards him after shots were fired, according to court documents.

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Investigators then encountered an 18-year-old woman who was in the vehicle of a concerned bystander, according to charging documents. She allegedly bled from the jaw and told deputies that Alden had shot her and was still in the area in a Dodge SUV. A 14-year-old girl, according to court documents, was with Alden.

First responders work at the scene of a shooting involving multiple victims on Cormier Road near Billings on Monday January 30th.

AMY LYNN NELSON, Billings Gazette

One of those who fled the Dodge allegedly told deputies that she, the two victims, Alden and a fifth person had left Lodge Grass earlier in the day. With Alden driving, according to court documents, they drove to Billings and then to Pryor. Instead of returning to Lodge Grass, Alden reportedly took the group into the rural countryside. The witness said Alden acted erratically, according to the charging documents, using methamphetamine and pulling out a revolver to shoot at a traffic sign.

An argument broke out between the 14-year-old girl and Alden, according to court documents, which ended with Alden shooting her and the 18-year-old woman. As he fired, Alden reportedly drove the SUV into a ditch. He ordered the other two people in the vehicle to get rid of the girls, according to charging documents. They would have refused and would have fled from the SUV.

Deputies found the Dodge and ordered Alden out of the SUV and back towards them. He got out of the vehicle, but allegedly charged at law enforcement who used their Tasers and handcuffed him. His clothes, according to the charging documents, were covered in blood.

Investigators found the girl, identified in court documents as L, in the back seat. She was awake and breathing, according to the charging documents, but suffered from head trauma. She also reportedly showed signs of sexual abuse. The paramedics gave her first aid until paramedics took L. and the 18-year-old woman to the hospital. Deputies searched the SUV and reportedly found an unwrapped condom, along with empty bullet casings and live ammunition.

The 18-year-old suffered two gunshot wounds to the face and neck. L. was eventually airlifted to Denver, according to charging documents, where she is being treated for a bullet that entered her brain.

Before deputies could question him at the sheriff’s office, Alden reportedly struggled to stay awake. He had white powder under his nose, according to the charging documents, and appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Alden had previously been sentenced in 2014 to five years of federal supervision after pleading guilty to manslaughter. He admitted in court that he could have been the driver of an accident that killed a 23-year-old man on the Crow reservation, but he had been drinking earlier in the day and could not remember.

If convicted of attempted homicide or attempted rape, Alden could be sentenced to life in prison. He has been held in the Yellowstone County Detention Center since Tuesday and is due in Yellowstone County District Court for the first time on Thursday.

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