Man appears in court after allegedly pointing a gun at three men inside hotel - East Idaho News
Crime Watch

Man appears in court after allegedly pointing a gun at three men inside hotel

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IDAHO FALLS – A man appeared in court on Tuesday after being arrested for reportedly pointing a gun and screaming at multiple people inside a hotel.

Bruce Christopher Murray, 56, appeared in court after he was charged with three counts of felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of felony unlawful possession of a deadly weapon by a convicted felon.

Murray was also recently arrested after a fight with a friend that ended in an attempted shooting.

RELATED | Man charged after allegedly shooting at friend

Murray also has a prior conviction of trafficking heroin in 2018 out of Bingham County and was on parole at the time of his arrest.

On July 19, Idaho Falls Police were dispatched to the Econo Lodge at 888 Holmes Avenue after receiving reports about an assault.

When they arrived, three men told them they were staying at the hotel while in town for work, and when they had gotten back that night, they left the door cracked as they were unloading their cars.

One of the men told police that after they had finished unloading their cars and were relaxing, “three men pushed open the door and came into the room.”

The man said “a tall white male had a gun and pointed it at (one of the victims) and (started) asking where (a woman) was.” According to police records, two of the men put their hands up, and one of the men rolled off the bed and hid.

One of the victims “put his hands up and told the male they did not know the woman and were only in town doing construction.”

Court records state that the man, later identified as Murray, pointed the gun at one of the men again and then left the room with the two men who had come with him.

All three victims stated they were “sure they were going to be shot.” The victims then moved to a different hotel because they were “afraid they might be attacked again.”

The victims described the man to police as “taller than six-foot (sic), muscular, with tattoos all over his arms, wearing a white shirt with brown pants, was bald and has some kind of facial hair.” They also said “the gun was some kind of chrome-colored pistol, possibly a 9mm.”

None of the victims could describe the other two men in the room. Officers saw surveillance footage, where they saw the three victims unloading their cars and coming into their hotel room before three other men, including one that matched the descriptions given by the victims, were “seen milling around outside the door for a second and then the bald male removes something from the waistline of his pants, and all three men push into the room.”

Officers later identified the man as Murray, and on July 28 he was detained and booked into the Bonneville County Jail.

A no-contact order was served for the victims, and a motion was filed to release Murray to pretrial services. The preliminary hearing is set for Aug. 23.

Though Murray has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.

If convicted, Murray could spend up to 45 years in prison.

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