BANNOCK COUNTY, Idaho (TCN) — A 69-year-old man has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder after police allege he killed his neighbor with a sword.
According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by East Idaho News, officers with the Pocatello Police Department were dispatched to an apartment building on Nov. 5 after receiving a report of a potential stabbing.
Responding officers located Ronald Cantrell standing beside a car with his hands up. According to the probable cause affidavit, officers detained him and placed him in handcuffs after he allegedly told them he had a knife. Inside the car, police located the victim, Wayne Weberpal, in the backseat. He allegedly had a sword “protruding from the left side of his upper torso, below his armpit,” according to officers.
Cantrell, the victim’s neighbor, allegedly said he had stabbed Weberpal. He allegedly called him a bad man and said he had a “deep distrust” of him. According to the probable cause affidavit, “Cantrell described multiple times that he believed the victim had been lying in wait to ambush him.”
The Idaho State Journal reports Cantrell claimed he acted in self-defense and that Weberpal was a killer. Police reportedly found a rifle with a suppressor beside the car, with the trigger locked.
The East Idaho News reports Cantrell allegedly did not know what day of the week it was and did not answer whether or not he understood his Miranda rights after he was arrested. According to police, Cantrell allegedly admitted to drinking all day and he also smelled strongly of alcohol, the Idaho State Journal reports.
He was charged with second-degree murder and lodged in Bannock County Jail; his preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 18. If convicted, he faces a sentence of 10 years to life in prison, per the East Idaho News.
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