Shooter tampered with evidence

By Bev Pechan

Paul Doering, 49, doesn’t know what the future holds for him but he has to know it isn’t going to be good. Doering is facing a potential 20 years in prison and maybe more for his role in a Hill City shootout last June 17 that sent three people to the hospital.
Authorities at the scene located Doering’s .45 caliber revolver which originally contained six live rounds of ammunition with four of the bullets being spent. Doering initially said he had no idea how the live charges got into the gun. Four of the bullets were recovered by local, state and federal agents following a combing of the area in the days after the shooting.
According to a story that broke in the media last Wednesday, Doering was quoted as saying that he “unintentionally fired a loaded handgun into a crowd of Hill City tourists.” In stories published in the Prevailer following the incident, Doering was said to be a newcomer to the Wild Bunch shootout group headquartered in Rapid City. Members of the group staged the show at the intersections of Main and Elm streets several times a week, with donations gathered going to the Children’s Miracle Network.
All firearms used in shootouts are supposed to be inspected by one person assigned to the task, said other re-enactors not associated with the Hill City group. It was alleged that on the evening of the Old West re-enactment gone wrong, Doering arrived late and his weapons reportedly were not checked.
So far as can be determined, Doering has given no reason for appearing with loaded weapons, but a ballistics expert interviewed by the Prevailer last summer agreed that after the first shot was fired, Doering would have known he was carrying live ammunition by the force of the gun’s recoil. He went on to fire three more rounds.
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