Nunley, 27, killed when gunshots erupt at party
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Chad Nunley, 27, was killed and Billy ?B.J.? Griffin, 21, is charged with his murder. Griffin is currently in Warren County Jail under $353,500 bond.
The shooting took place at 626 Rocky Top Road, a dead-end road that runs behind Joyce?s Market on Harrison Ferry Mountain. A party was being held at the A-frame home of Christian Grepperud after a Saturday night mud bog which took place on the mountain about a mile away. A beer keg and an empty bottle of liquor were still visible outside the house Monday afternoon.
?People got drunk and got to fighting,? said sheriff?s department chief investigator Herb Rowland. ?I know deputies broke up two fights when they got there.?
According to District Attorney Dale Potter, Griffin went to the vehicle he arrived in and it appeared he and driver Daniel Bryant were going to leave. That?s when Griffin allegedly pulled a 9mm handgun and shot Nunley three to four times a short distance from that vehicle.
Potter said an autopsy report will have to reveal exactly how many times the victim was shot in the chest and neck areas. It is not known if Griffin had the gun on him or if he retrieved it from the car.
The victim was not armed.
?He didn?t deny the shooting,? said Rowland of Griffin. ?He said someone hit him in the eye right before the shooting although he didn?t say it was the victim who hit him.?
Potter said investigators are exploring possible motives but he didn?t want to speculate on the reason for the shooting until the investigation is complete.
?It was after the mud bog and we know there were a couple of skirmishes between people that night,? said Potter. ?There was no contact between the two, from what we can tell, when Nunley was shot. There are still several different ideas out there about exactly what happened and we?re not sure which one took place.?
Rowland said he?s heard rumors the shooting may have been over a girl but he hasn?t been able to verify if that?s true.
?We don?t know if there?s any proof to that or not,? Rowland said.
Griffin left the scene after the shooting in Bryant?s vehicle and traveled to the BP truck stop in Morrison. Party-goers tried to prevent the two from leaving, even going so far as to stand in front of the vehicle and pound on it.
Investigators think Griffin might have been on his way to his girlfriend?s home in Manchester.
It was at the BP truck stop Griffin reportedly called 911 and told the operator he had just shot a man. McMinnville police officers were dispatched to the scene and Griffin was taken into custody.
Griffin is charged with second-degree murder because prosecutors don?t believe he planned the crime in advance. Second-degree murder carries 15 to 25 years in prison. Griffin is also charged with carrying a weapon for the purposes of being armed, which is a misdemeanor, and with vandalism because a round from his gun damaged another vehicle.
Griffin was in court yesterday morning and had his preliminary hearing set for June 13. He did not post bond.