Myre-Big Island shooting victim ID’d
Published 10:00 am Thursday, September 1, 2016
ALBERT LEA — The Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office has released the identity of the man killed last week at Myre-Big Island State Park.
Spencer Daniel Brown, 23, of rural Freeborn County, died Aug. 23 after he was reportedly shot twice in the head.
Authorities said Brown was found dead in a locked 2001 Audi station wagon the evening of Aug. 23 in a parking lot near the Big Island pavilion after dispatchers received a 911 call from David Michael Easter, 26, of Brownsdale.
Easter reportedly told dispatchers he had shot Brown in self-defense and claimed Brown approached him with what appeared to be a bat.
Easter’s wife and infant daughter were also reportedly at the pavilion at the time of the shooting but were not injured. Easter was arrested near the park’s entrance about 1.7 miles away from the pavilion.
Authorities said last week evidence does not show the shooting was in self-defense.
Freeborn County Sheriff Kurt Freitag said Wednesday both men had recent ties to the Omaha, Nebraska, area, but at this point in the investigation there does not appear to be a prior connection between them.
Easter faces one count of second-degree murder tied to the death. He is being held in the Freeborn County jail on a $200,000 bail.