More than 2 weeks after fatal West Fargo church shooting, few new details emerge (2024)

WEST FARGO — An investigation into the fatal shooting of a young parishioner of Prairie Heights Community Church in West Fargo has entered its third week and still is not complete, police said, with no new information being released.

The Cass County States Attorney's office has yet to receive the report of the incident from the West Fargo Police Department and, so far, police have not recommended any charges.

I n a brief release issued two days after the shooting , police said Austin Strom, a 25-year-old member of Prairie Heights church, was attempting to break into the church and committed aggravated assault against another church member, 66-year-old Kent Hodges, before a third man, Don Barron Jr., 53, intervened and shot and killed Strom with a handgun just before 8 a.m., Saturday, Aug. 17, in the church parking lot.

Contributed / Robin Strom

Red River Regional Dispatch Center records show that multiple 911 calls came in that morning from the 300 block of 32nd Ave. E. in West Fargo, the area of Prairie Heights church. The first calls were logged at 7:44 a.m. for reports of a fight. A second group of calls came at 7:48 a.m. when reports of a fight involving a gunshot were made at that location.

Prairie Heights Executive Director Doug Peters told The Forum that the church turned over all of its video surveillance to investigators, but declined to say whether the incident was captured on video.

Barron, who lives in Moorhead, could not be reached for comment, but West Fargo High School officials sent out a note to families and staff acknowledging that Barron is employed as a drivers education teacher at the school and that, after discussions with the West Fargo police, he would not be put on leave following the shooting.

Hodges initially agreed to an interview with The Forum about his involvement in the fight but later declined to talk at this time. Hodges said he has been diagnosed with aphasia, a disorder that impairs a person's ability to communicate, including understanding spoken and written language. Aphasia usually happens after a stroke or a head injury, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Fargo attorney and former police officer Mark Friese told The Forum the lengthy investigation is not uncommon in cases such as this because, if prosecutors were to file charges, they would have a burden to disprove any claim Barron may have made that he believed he was in imminent danger and that the use of deadly force against Strom was necessary.

Matt Henson / WDAY

"What caused the initial altercation (between Strom and Hodges) is relevant, but the focus of the analysis from the police and the prosecution is going to be the state of mind of Mr. Barron at the time that he made the decision to use deadly force. What did he see? What did he know? Did he believe that he or Mr. Hodges was in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury? If Mr. Barron knew that Mr. Hodges had some inability to process things as well, that actually would probably support a greater level of intervention," Friese said.

"If he's simply driving by and he sees a 66-year-old man being beat up, there's no legal duty to intervene but he almost has a moral obligation in those circ*mstances. With the distorting effects of hindsight, we could say, 'Well, maybe he should have instead called the police, maybe he should have summoned help, maybe he should have handled it differently,' but that's not the matrix by which this is analyzed. It is: Would a reasonable person under those circ*mstances take the steps that he took?" Friese said.

Strom's mother said her son was sleeping in his car or outside the church the night before the fight. It is not known why Hodges or Barron was at Prairie Heights early that Saturday morning. Church officials said the church was locked and closed at the time of the shooting.

The initial report from West Fargo police said the three men previously did not know one another. Ensuring that Barron did not have some connection to Strom that might not be obvious, or that there was not any interaction between any of the men prior to the morning of the incident, could take a significant amount of time for investigators, as could getting the results of any toxicology exams and Strom's autopsy, Friese said.

The way police described Strom's physical attack on Hodges in their report is important, he said.

"The scenario that's painted by that press release suggests that the use of force here was reasonable and lawful," Friese said. "(Strom) had just committed an aggravated assault on a victim. There are three levels of assault in North Dakota — simple assault, assault, and aggravated assault — only aggravated assault is a felony offense."

The press release said Hodges was taken to a hospital with severe injuries from the assault.

"North Dakota law is clear. A person is justified in using force on another person in order to defend anyone else, if the person defended would have been justified in defending himself, and the person coming to the defense has not by provocation or otherwise forfeited the right to self defense," Friese said.