NewsCrime Watch

Actions

Prosecutors: Gun fired after woman dropped it at Billings bar

Second woman shot in leg
Posted at 3:38 PM, Nov 12, 2019
and last updated 2019-11-13 16:14:41-05

BILLINGS — A woman is facing up to 11 years in prison for charges related to a weekend shooting at a Billings bar, where authorities say she dropped a gun that fired and struck another woman in the leg.

Jazmine Kiana Pewitt, 22, made her first appearance Tuesday in Yellowstone County Justice Court. She faces charges of felony criminal endangerment and two misdemeanors related to improper concealed weapons possession.

Yellowstone County prosecutors said in court documents that Pewitt told police she was in the bathroom of Shooter's Bar at 1600 Ave. D carrying a gun in her pants.

She said when she dropped her pants in the stall, the gun fell to the ground and went off, surprising her.

The owner of the bar, Michael Morgan, told Q2 News after the incident that he believed the shooting was an accident.

Police also found a 24-year-old woman at the bar with an obvious bleeding hole in her calf. She said she was washing her hands in the bathroom when she heard a loud bang and a shout from the stall. She looked down and saw a shell casing by her feet as she walked out, then noticed a warm wetness on her leg that turned out to be blood.

She was taken to a local hospital Saturday night.

Police found a .40 caliber shell casing in the bar but no gun.

Pewitt said she received the gun from another man at the bar. That man said he owns a Smith and Wesson Sigma .40 caliber handgun, which was unloaded in his vehicle.

The man did not say that he gave the gun to Pewitt and decided he wanted a lawyer present. He has not been charged in connection with the incident.

Pewitt is in Yellowstone County jail. Her bail was set at $5,000.