Tom Glass and Derek Jackson walked jurors through the last hours of Beau Arndt’s life this morning in Lyon County District Court.
The two were hunting geese with the 18-year-old Americus teen when he was killed by a single gunshot to his chest. Topekan Theron Thomas Kent is accused of killing Arndt when he fired from the roadway.
Kent is charged with involuntary manslaughter, attempted unlawful taking of wildlife, hunting without permission and criminal discharge of a firearm. Today is the fourth day of his trial.
Dec. 15, 2007, was a nearly perfect day for goose hunting, Glass said. There was a light dusting of snow on the field at Roads 310 and D and the wind was blowing.
“It was a pretty awesome morning,” Glass recalled.
He told jurors how the three met at Jackson’s house before heading to the nearby field, unloading their equipment and setting up the more than 100 decoys in the field.
Next, they decided where to place their blinds, which look like camouflage sleeping bags with a metal frame to hold up the top side. The hunter reclines in the blind. If on his back, he can look up at the sky through a mesh window and watch for birds to come in. When ready to shoot, he can sit up and two flaps open up giving him an unrestricted shot.
Glass remembered that Arndt, despite 10 years of hunting experience, asked the older man where he should set up his blind.
“I remember telling Beau you’re in the perfect spot,” Glass said, sniffing slightly as emotions started to catch up with him on the witness stand.
Glass said he heard a shot that morning — just hours after the incident he told investigators he thought he heard two — but thought it was Arndt and Jackson firing at geese.
Jackson, however, testified that he was in his blind on his stomach and saw a pickup truck drive up from the south on the road 250 to 300 yards from him.
“The closer it got to us, the slower it was going,” Jackson said this morning. “I hollered at Beau, ‘What’s this guy doing?’
“The pickup stopped very briefly and I heard a shot. Right after I heard a shot, I heard Beau scream.”
Both Jackson and Glass approached Arndt’s blind.
“I saw him laying in the blind, unconscious, still breathing, his eyes rolled back. At first glance, there was no visible blood,” Jackson said.
“I thought I knew what happened,” he said. “As I approached I expected to see a big bloody bullet hole, and I was confused.”
At Glass’s direction, Jackson called 911 on his cell phone. A dispatcher told the men to find the wound and hold a cloth to it to stop any bleeding. After opening Arndt’s jacket, Glass said, he saw the wound.
“I first noticed a little spot of blood ... right in the middle of the chest.”
A deputy coroner testified Wednesday that Arndt was killed by a single gunshot wound to his chest that ripped a hole in his heart, punctured his lung and hit his liver. Despite more than 20 minutes of CPR by Glass, Jackson and later sheriff’s deputies, Arndt died in the field.
When questioned further about the truck he saw, Jackson said he never saw anyone get out of the truck to shoot. According to officers who interviewed Kent, the Topeka man said he stopped his pickup truck, opened the door and fired at a coyote.
“I promise you that if I saw a vehicle stop and someone get out and point a rifle in my direction while I was in a blind, I would get up,” Jackson said before being stopped by an objection from defense attorney Don Hoffman.
Jackson later explained again in response to a question from Lyon County Attorney Marc Goodman.
“The only people I know about in that area at the time the shot was fired was the three of us and that vehicle,” Jackson said. “I didn’t see a rifle come from the vehicle. I didn’t see a person get out of the vehicle.
“After I saw that vehicle, I heard a shot and I heard Beau scream.”
Check back at www.emporiagazette.com for a recount from this afternoon’s proceedings.
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Posted by madpoet (anonymous) on June 26, 2008 at 2:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What a horrible thing to go through. Now to have to basically relive it to testify must be terrible. My heart goes out to the friends and family of Beau Arndt. I hope justice is served. It won't bring the young man back but at least someone will be punished for being so stupid and reckless. I wish I could believe it would serve as an example to others to be more careful with firearms. I doubt it, especially in light of recent shootings that narrowly missed people.
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