the next thing you know they're getting shot at. >> he was protecting us. he was making sure we were safe. >> the bullets, just like shooting fish in a barrel. >> at a cabin in the woods a family terrified. >> it was scary. >> fear where no one could hear them, no one could help. >> i remember seeing my dad and mom. what are you going to do if they come back? >> daddy will protect you. and take care of you. >> a promise this father meant to keep. >> crack, crack, and fire. >> he grabbed his rifle and opened fire. >> a flurry of shots. glasses exploding. just complete chaos.

>> and when the shooting stopped, a man lay dying. was it self-defense or murder? >> it was worse than anything you would see in a movie. >> one blinding burst of violence. a nightmare with no end. >> sometimes i cried for my dad. >> every day i think about it. i think about it every single day. >> i'm lester holt and this is "dateline." here's keith morrison with "miles from nowhere." >> it was in the dark that the fear began. in the dark with the sounds of the black night around them that it grew and grew. >> terrorized our family, our friends. >> who was out there in the dark? here, miles and miles into prime evil woods so far from safety, from civilized protection. >> they could just come on to

our property and invade our lives. >> but on a summer night deep in the california sierra the terror came out of the dark, came after them, to take everything. the terrible, desperate chase. its awful end. and now the question, what really happened out there in the dark? >> stand up. >> i still feel like i need to go help him. >> it looked so innocent now, closed up, dead quiet, empty here at the end of the 100-yard dirt track that snakes off this lonely country road deep in the sierra nevada. but this was not how it was or was ever meant to be. no. before it happened, before that summer night in july, 2011, this was, well, let them tell it.

>> a magical place. >> awesome. >> it's fun. >> we would do a snowball fight. and then we would come inside and eat and have some hot coco a. >> these are the children. darylin and georgia and little gregory. mostly they lived in reno, nevada, but this at the end of a two-hour drive into the woods was the applies they lived. >> we'd go on hikes and there was like a lake that was very close. >> we'd fish. >> we'd fish and go up there and fish and swim. it was awesome. here they discovered a world far more magical than any city could ever be. it was their father's cabin, really. chad wallin reed. chad's grandparents built the cabin in the '70s when he was just a baby. >> my children were definitely,

daddy, we love the place. they've all grown up, diapers, all the way through going up there, fishing, boating, you know, swimming. >> mind you, this was truly remote. their only electricity came from a generator. there was no cell phone service, no phone at all, which was just fine with chad's wife, carrie. >> it was very enjoyable to be away from the phones and traffic and, you know, work. >> yes. >> this is where chad taught his children how to exist in the natural world, how to catch a fish, swim in a mountain lake, feel safe in the dark. >> he's an amazing father. he loves his children so much. he's my best buddy. >> he's really funny. he's really loving. he likes people to laugh a lot. >> the children saw the world and certainly their retreat here in the country as a safe place for them just as it should be. and keeping it that way was

chad's particular preoccupation. chad worried a lot about safety, about security, which may have come in part at least from his time in the military. he was, he said, an army ranger, one of the elite few. like a lot of vets, he seemed to carry some baggage. >> there are just some things i'd rather not talk about and things that i've tried to get over. >> carrie didn't pry. let him deal with it his own way. >> between himself and the lord. he loves this country, you know, he fought for his freedom. that means a lot to him. >> and now, between the children and whatever was out there in the woods, the nearest sheriff's office just an hour's drive away. had to be your own policeman. that was how you felt. >> yes. we had to protect ourselves. there was nobody out there to

protect us. >> out here, that was no idle worry. break-ins are not uncommon in the isolated cabins out here in the wilderness. and there? >> the cabin has been broken in numerous times. >> one of the most recent ones somebody just pretty much ransacked the whole place. >> there is something very invasive about that, too, when somebody goes into property that's yours and takes something of yours. >> it is. it's not just invasive. it robs you of security. >> security was why he gave carrie a revolver and taught her to use it and stocked the cabin with guns. one a lot like his military weapon. security and pleasure. what is the attraction of those? >> i think just the fun of shooting them. it's just, you know, being able to put in a 30-round magazine and set up a target and just go at it.

>> chad planted signs at the edge of his property, out by the road. stern warnings to would-be vandals and thieves. and he watched vigilant, didn't rest easy, especially because one of those break-ins had been just that very year. >> if he did fall asleep it was very lightly and every noise would wake you up. very easily. >> then the 4th of july weekend, 2011, they were joined by some friends who set up a little camp site on the property near the road. >> just enjoying each other's company, hanging out. >> early on saturday morning at 2:00 a.m. chad was jolted awake. >> all of a sudden i heard all this yelling and commotion and sounded like somebody was fighting. i looked out and i saw this spotlight being shined all over the place. i was like, what the heck is going on? then i walk out and as i'm

looking down, this car goes speeding away. >> chad hopped in his truck, drove to the end of the driveway. >> that's when i noticed one of the solar lights had been taken. >> a solar light, one of several attached to metal poles marking the edge of the property, a cheap item, but, still. why would somebody want one of those? >> i don't know. >> when morning came, chad inspected his friend's camp site near the bottom of the property. are those foot prints of strangers around their trailer? >> it put us all on edge, you know, basically high alert. >> the commotion, the stolen light, the foot prints of people who had no business being there, the children picked up the anxiety. >> i remember asking my dad and mom, what are you going to do if they come back and what would happen if somebody got hurt? >> when it's your children and they're scared like that and

insecure, you as a parent have failed, you know, and that's how i felt as a father, as a person that is supposed to protect your family. all they could do was offer words. honey, if they come back daddy will protect you. daddy will take care of it. >> a promise he intended to keep. >> when we come back, a father decides to confront the threat to his family head on. what happened the next night would change all of their lives forever. >> i picked up the pistol. it was in my cup holder, and pointed it out the window. ♪ because an empty pan is a blank canvas. ♪ [ woman #2 ] to share a moment. ♪ [ man #1 ] to remember my grandmother. [ woman #3 ] to show my love. ♪ [ woman #4 ] because life needs flavor. ♪ [ woman #5 ] to travel the world without leaving home.

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saturday morning, july 4th weekend, 2011. chad wallin reed and his family were on edge. strangers had come very close, middle of the night, strangers who stole a solar light and may have been tramping around on their property. and suddenly the cabin felt more remote, the woods less like home, and the children? >> they asked, what if they come back and come all the way up to

the cabin? >> what did you say? >> daddy will protect us. daddy won't let anything bad happen to you. it was scary. it was scary to me. >> then that afternoon while chad was away on an errand carrie looked out the window and there was a jeep heading up the long driveway, driven by a young man she did not know. >> he sat there for a while and like he was looking around for something. i had the kids stay down, out of sight, so they wouldn't be seen. >> was he lost, looking for help? she took no chances. she reached for the gun chad had taught her how to use. >> i had a revolver and i was headed toward the door. >> and then, whoever it was backed up and drove away. so what did that do to your level of anxiety that weekend? >> oh, it was high. >> ramped it up some more. >> oh, yes.

>> that evening, still on edge, carrie and the kids watched a movie and fell asleep on the couch. chad sat outside with his visiting friends, who had set up camp on his property. >> we were just sitting there on the porch kicking back, relaxing, bs'ing. >> the story of what happened next is both complex and, as you'll see, disputed, which is why we have shot our own video to help us illustrate events. it was 9:00 or 10:00 p.m., said chad, when his friends noticed a car. >> and then it just shut off the headlights and pulled up on the driveway. what was going on? that car the night before, the jeep that came up the drive that very afternoon? and now strangers were out there again. >> i picked up the ar sitting next to me. >> his ar 15 bush master. he fired a warning shot. >> and then i just remember seeing some guy running away.

>> but would the warning be enough? these had to be the same men who came the night before. now here they were a second time. these guys were bad news. >> i was trying to catch up to these guys, you know, get them, catch them, get their license plate or get their information or something, you know, because it was apparent that this was more than just we're here to play and joke around with you. >> chad jumped in his truck and gave chase, barreling up the twisty mountain road at up to 50 miles an hour. >> as i was coming up behind them somebody leaned out the passenger side of the vehicle and was shining a million power spotlight. i mean, it was just blinding. and then the next thing i know as i'm looking up i see these three flashes and then i hear crack, crack, crack, crack. it was the sound of, you know, gun fire. >> a sound chad knew very well. he'd been in the army, remember. so what did you do? >> i picked up the pistol that was in my cup holder, chambered

a round, and pointed it out the window and, you know, let off a few rounds. >> you hit anything? >> not that i could tell, no. >> someone in the car ahead threw solar lights out the window, then waved something. >> like a piece of plastic. something shiny flying out or hanging out a window. and we kept on proceeding. >> back in the cabin, carrie lay tense on the couch, her three kids sleeping beside her. >> i was just like, in my mind thinking, where are you? come home. you know, is everything okay? i hope everything's okay. >> chad was still in hot pursuit. 7.6 miles they went careening up the winding country road until the car took a quick turn on to a remote dirt road. chad, right behind. >> they did some fish tails, you know, like they swerved the car and at one point the passenger door started to open up.

i thought, you know, these guys are going to get out. they're going to come at me. >> the dirt road, emptied into a meadow. the car suddenly made a 180. it looked like they were coming straight at you. >> yeah. it looked like an assault. right. >> were they going to shoot him? ram him? what? >> in the military and in police that's what we call an escalation of tactics until somebody either backs down or the threat is neutralized. >> the other car kept coming. chad grabbed the ar-15. >> i just shoved it out the window and fired off. >> where were they compared to you? they were coming this way? >> they were right -- >> right beside you. >> right. right. >> how many shots? >> i don't recall. >> you just let it go? >> right. >> chad watched his enemy's driver side window blow out. glass rained down on the meadow.

the stranger's car veered across the grass and came to rest on the dirt road. >> i drove over to him and i was yelling at them. i just remember this young voice saying, i give up. i give up. i give up. we're sorry. you know. please don't kill me. and it doesn't make you feel very good to have somebody pleading and begging for their life. >> chad's protective fury lessened for a moment. and then? >> i remember him yelling, i have a 3-month-old daughter. and all i could think of was my kids, thinking, you're yelling at me about your daughter and look what you just did? what about my kids? did you ever consider my kids? >> who were these men in the car? what did they want?

here in the dark, miles from nowhere, what had just happened? and what was about to? coming up -- back home chad faces the reality of what's happened. >> i just remember this lost look on her face and i was just saying, i'm sorry. >> when "dateline" continues. [ female announcer ] we eased your back pain... ♪ ready or not. [ female announcer ] ...so you can be up there. here i come! [ female announcer ] ...down there, around there... and under there for him. tylenol® provides strong pain relief and won't irritate your stomach the way aleve® or even advil® can. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. tylenol®. and then there's juicy chicken. the difference is best foods. best foods is the secret to making parmesan crusted chicken

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late evening. a remote mountain meadow in his ar-15 at the ready, chad reed approached the car full of

>> some of the others were wounded also, right? >> at that point in time i didn't know. >> nor did chad know any of the men in the car, who they were, why they had approached his home. but once he saw they no longer posed a threat, he said, he told the men he'd do what he could to find help for them. >> i said, i'm going to go call the sheriff. >> he drove the seven and a half miles back to his cabin. as you're driving back, now trying to figure out what the hell you've done what was going on in your heart, mind, your soul? >> an assessment. somebody was either dead or dying, something very serious has happened here. what steps do we go through? >> none of that drive was occupied with the oh, my god what the hell have i done?

>> no, no. >> when he pulled into the driveway, chad was greeted by his friends. they had seen him race off into the night. now he told them what happened. >> i said, i caught up to them. you know, they shot at me. i shot back. and i think i killed one of them. at first everybody was like, ah, you know. just laughing and stuff like that. and i said, no, i think i killed one of them. >> chad's wife carrie, up in the cabin with the kids, couldn't tell what chad was saying outside. >> i thought it was much longer than it actually was for him to get out of the truck and come inside the cabin. then he came inside. >> she was like, what happened? i said, i took off after them, and i think i killed one of them. >> he was so upset. he looked as if he continued to forecast that he would just not be able to maintain any composure whatsoever.

>> and i just remember, i just remember her looking at me, and i couldn't tell what the look was about. whether, you know, it was a relief from her or it was a -- who are you? like an accusation, i guess. and, you know, i just remember this lost look on her face. i've never, ever seen it my entire life. i was just saying, i'm sorry. i'm sorry. >> but what should he do? chad wasn't exactly sure. he turned to his friend, jason. >> i was thinking maybe i could go back and one of us could go make a phone call and one of us could go back and help.

jason was like, no. going back would be a terrible idea. and he said, we need to go call 911. >> remember, their cabin didn't have a telephone, so carrie got dressed and then she and chad and their friends drove the winding road down the mountain to the main highway, perhaps nine miles down, hunting for a spot with cell phone reception. >> we had to drive clear almost 3/4 of the way down to where i normally get reception and i called out and i got through and right as i was talking to the lady the call dropped. and then i had to drive down a little bit farther. we were able to make the call out there. >> hello. how can i help you? >> yes. i need to report a shooting. >> a shooting? >> yes. >> of course, you know, dispatch, what's your address? no address. well where are you at? >> i'm up by antelope lake. >> he was concerned, he said, about getting help to the wounded. >> in my mind, how are they

going to find these individuals? how are they going to get there to help them? they're out in the middle of nowhere on a dirt road. >> this northern stretch of the sierra nevada is an up-and-down road of mountain peaks and river gorges far from any towns. the few deputies on patrol are scattered over a vast wilderness. so it's not all together surprising that one of the first to respond to chad's 911 call turned out to be a game warden. what is surprising is who was riding with him. a photographer, of all people, one of the first to reach the scene of the shooting. and the images he captured? >> it was bad. worse than anything you'd see in a movie. i'll tell you that. >> coming up -- caught on camera, the horrifying, real life scene that first responders found. >> i just remember seeing his hand come up out of the grass and like, whoa.

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in the high sierra the life

of a game warden is a solitary one. hours of driving along back country roads alone. wardens find everything from bear poachers and pot farmers and it attracted a reality show which sent a photographer named ben staley to the little town here in plymouth county. >> i'd been in the quincy area for a couple months getting in all kinds of trouble with the california game wardens. >> it was the 4th of july weekend, late on a saturday night. staley head been taping with a game warden since daybreak and was ready to pack it in. then an urgent call came over the radio. shots fired. >> all we really knew is some bad stuff had happened. some people had been shooting at each other. we're speeding to get there to perhaps break it up, perhaps stop it, perhaps save lives. you don't really know. >> they didn't know, in other words, they were responding to the 911 call from chad reed

after his armed confrontation with six men on a dark road, running through a meadow. while racing to the scene, staley and the warden met up with the sheriff's deputy. then over the radio came a new twist. two men, possibly wounded, had been found wandering through a campground. >> we go to this campground and, sure enough, we all hop out and then there's like two guys in the middle of this campground with blood on them. one of the sheriffs takes them. they cuff them and take them right there. these guys are like, look, our friends are hurt. they give us directions to where the incident occurred. >> the meadow that is, the dirt road where the shooting took place. a place so remote that without those directions they might never have found it. as they drove through the night, they listened to the chatter of the two way. >> it was very chaotic. nobody knew exactly what was happening. nobody knew if there was, you know, multiple people shooting at each other, two people shooting at each other. all of these conflicting reports

were coming in over the radio. really scary. >> staley and the warden were now joined by a total of three deputies. the makeshift teem convoyed to the meadow, geared up for a possible shootout. they found a lone vehicle, its windows blown out. >> i want you to stand up. stand up. >> staley shot this footage of the encounter, which later became part of the official public record. >> right away there's two guys coming toward us with their hands up. one guy is limping really bad. he was shot through the leg. they're both bloody and cut up. they both looked really freaked out. >> then staley saw something strange poking out of the meadow floor. >> i just remember seeing this hand come up out of the grass. >> i got one off to the right here, one hand up. >> and everyone was like, whoa. we got a hand. >> staley recorded everything. the warden, the deputy, arresting the wounded men, the hand poking out of the grass. and then the young man who was connected to that hand. his right calf shredded by a

bullet. >> they turniqueted his leg but he had it on too tight and too long. it was very painful and they took it off. he was bleeding a lot. >> this badly wounded man plus the others made five but there was one more. >> then there was another guy in the back seat who was i guess the driver. he was a lot worse off. but he was talking, moving his mouth. i could hear sounds. i couldn't make any words out, you know. but it didn't look good. >> the driver had been shot in the head. >> it was worse than anything you had seen in a movie. this was so violent and so gory. >> what happened here? sorting it out fell to detective steve fay and chris hendrickson. >> it was very confusing for all the officers responding. they were all under the impression the suspects were in the meadow, in the car, and maybe armed. officers treated them as such. >> adding to the confusion, the remote location. multiple locations.

>> the two gentlemen at the campground, four gentlemen down at the potential crime scene. and then mr. wallin reed with another detective at another spot. officers, ambulances, helicopters coming in. it's very chaotic. very chaotic that night. >> deputies led by sergeant fay met a few miles from the meadow. listen to his account of the chase. >> they started shining the spotlight back at me and the next thing you know there are all these muzzle flashes. >> you think they were firing on you? >> yeah. they were firing back at me. >> some of the other detectives were out in the meadow looking for the weapon or weapons those young men must have fired at chad. they searched the car. they searched around the car. they looked all around the meadow. they found nothing. but then at the big meadow, and those are very deep and very dark woods, some of those young men did run. they could have dumped a gun out there somewhere. but they didn't all run. >> i got one off to the right

here, one hand up. >> remember the one shot in the leg, the one whose hand they saw sticking up who was found bleeding out in the meadow? he didn't bleed out. he survived. his name is justin louis. he is about to give us his account of a july 4th weekend on a dark and lonely road in the high sierra. coming up -- confusion and terror, a very different story of those shots in the dark. >> the next thing i know, glass is exploding. it's just complete chaos. >> when "dateline" continues. hey! are you the new colgate® slimsoft™?

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this is where it ended, in an ink black meadow in the high sierra, barely illuminated by a pair of headlights. here is the actual video of the sheriff's deputy, guns drawn, approaching the car, preparing

for a possible shootout with gunmen. instead, they found shooting victims, three of them, severely wounded. >> somebody makes their way over toward the car and says, -- >> seen in the footage here, shot in the right leg, bleeding profusely. the belt he used as a turniquet just above his knee possibly saved his knife. >> at that point it was obvious i'd lose my leg. i'm not sure how much time had gone by. maybe an hour and a half. >> there were other victims. who were these men? how did they provoke a violent confrontation with army vet chad wallin reed? chad and his family said they'd been terrorized. but that was not the story louis smythe had to tell. louis's version began an hour's drive away in susanville, california, population almost 18,000, home to two state prisons, two movie theaters, and

on july 4th weekend, 2011, the restless young men in search of fun. it was louis, of course, and his very best friend, the 20-year-old junior college student named rory mcguire. >> he was the center of attention wherever he went. all eyes were on rory. in fact, right from the start. that amazing shock of red hair at birth surprising even his own mother, carol. >> his name was going to be collin and then he came out with the red hair and i had to look through a baby name book and i found the name rory which means red teen in irish so, hence, rory mcguire. >> the red hair came with a personality to match. >> there was only one rory and everyone knew who it was. he was vivacious. he was creative. he was exciting. he was funny. he was the life of the party. >> entrepreneurial, too, trying to start a mobile car washing business with a friend.

>> rory had all the equipment. he had printed up business cards. he was passing out flyers. >> we would talk every day, tell him almost every detail, laugh about little things. i felt like i kind of got a little brother with rory. >> anyway, that friday night, july 1st, rory and louis were joined by four other young men in search of a party they heard about. >> we were looking for a friend of ours brother who was having a gathering up by antelope lake. >> girls up there, somebody said. so here's what they did. and once again we prepared special video, this time to illustrate louis's story, in which they all squeezed into rory's sebring, drove to the lake, but couldn't find the party. so they got up to a little mischief up there by the lake, with a spotlight one of them brought, the kind that plugs into a cigarette lighter. >> we stopped at the top of a canyon and were shining the

light down on the camp site and a bunch of people came out yelling. they were mad and, anyway, everybody kind of got a kick out of that. >> then one of them remembered some crazy warning signs he'd seen by the road side, wanted to show his buddies. they found them. trained the spotlight on them. >> and one of them says, warning. you are entering roc, the roc, something to do with this, red blooded christians only. others will be deadly force will be used. >> deadly force. red blooded christians only? were they kidding? seemed almost like a dare. one of them hopped out of the car. >> he grabbed the solar light and ripped down one of the smaller of the two signs and comes running back in, you know. and then we took off from there. >> cheap light, maybe four or five bucks. still, why did he take the solar light? did he say?

>> no. i think it was just some sort of random act of vandalism that i guess young kids would do. >> and then the noisy car full of young men rolled back home and they all went to bed. the following evening was saturday, july 2nd. sure enough, there was a second chance. same lake, new party. so again, a bunch of young men piled into rory mcguire's chrysler sebring. >> and met up with two others at the chevron gas station where we bought i think a bottle of blueberry vodka and a couple 40 ounces of beer to take with us. >> okay. >> and we get about half way up the grade and we approach the property again. >> the wallin reed property. suddenly, rory stopped the car and, again, one of the group jumped out and stole two more solar lights. >> ten seconds passed or so and

right as cesar was getting into the car, i heard what sounded like a gun shot. >> rory hit the gas. was somebody shooting they asked each other? louis, a little freaked out, looked out the back window. >> i turned around just to see a truck. >> gaining on you. >> i could pretty much tell that meant business. right after that, i remember seeing a green laser traveling around with us. >> a laser gun? we assumed, yes. it's like you can't believe it. they're not going to shoot us. >> people don't shoot other people. >> not for this. and then i hear, pow, pow, pow and every once in a while something hitting on the trunk or something. >> they tried shining him with their spotlight. didn't seem to help. >> meanwhile this whole time we've been trying to call 911 and there is no service and somebody suggests we wave my

white t-shirt out the window. >> maybe he'll stop. >> exactly. we were trying everything to have them stop. >> he just kept firing. >> throughout the whole rest of this trip there are flurries of shots being taken at us. >> desperate now, rushing along a road he did not know, rory suddenly took a wrong turn. >> so we were on this dirt road, still taking fire at different points in time. he's still chasing us and eventual lly what i hear rory s is this road just came to an abrupt stop. so he's trying to flip around. >> trying to get away, said louis. get around the truck. get out of the meadow. >> the next thing i know glass is exploding everywhere, hitting us in the head. >> with the car still moving at that point? >> yes. and it's just complete chaos. at that point, that was when i got shot.

it felt like heat kind of came over my leg. >> when the car finally came to a stop, those who could ran. >> i said, come on. let's go. i looked up and rory had his face in his chest. and i'm pretty sure he said, i can't. and right at that moment i saw the laser light again. at that point the gunman approached. >> coming up -- wounded, traps, they could only wait. was the shooter coming to finished the job? >> he starts to circle around the car. the whole while he is pointing the gun at us. >> coming up next time on "dateline" -- >> i immediately let out a scream. >> it was just before halloween. the killing that still haunts. >> lying there, couldn't feel a pulse. >> a young dad, engaged to be married, dead on the ground. >> they determined it was a murder. >> and here is what made this

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in a remote forest meadow in the dark a tiny green dot probed the interior of rory mcguire's immobilized chrysler sebring. the laser site was back, the roving bulls eye. louis smythe crouched wounded and immobile in the back seat, watched the green dot move across his body, waited for the gunman to finish him off. >> he kind of starts to circle around the car. the whole while he is pointing the gun at us looking like a s.w.a.t. team or something like that has come in. when he comes up he says, you [ bleep ] shoot at my house? i got kids or something like that.

we said, we didn't shoot at your house. we wouldn't do that. so the gunman points the gun right at me. i said, look. we didn't shoot your house. please just call an ambulance. and he took off. >> suddenly, relief. some of the friends had run for cover during the shooting. now they returned to the car. but to what? they were alone in the dark and their friend, the driver, rory, was clearly in bad shape. >> my friend has just been shot in the head. i'm shot. we just said we're going to get back in the car, get out of here, get help. >> somehow they manage to move rory to the back seat of the car. but when one of them turned the key -- >> the car wouldn't start. it kept getting worse and worse. >> no car, no cell service, no idea exactly where they were. no idea where help might be. no idea if any survived the night or if the gunman was going to come back. two of them volunteered to run

out into the blackness for help, see if they could find a cabin or a ranch house where they might find a working land line. the question was, would their friends still be alive when and if they got back? >> so i decided it's time probably to check on my leg. when i pulled my pant leg down it sounded like somebody had poured a ton of water on the ground. just splat like basically exploded in numerous pieces. >> stuck in place, easy targets, if the gunman returned. >> we had fear that he was going to come back and finish the job. >> some of the young men decided the car was more target than refuge and hid in the tall grass of the meadow. >> they didn't feel comfortable staying at the car and i don't blame them. >> and now the two best friends louis and rory were trapped in the dark. louis laid down on the ground, propped his wounded leg against the car. tried to keep talking to rory,

who was lying in the back seat. >> rory was shot in his head. he could barely talk. but when he did, it was horrible. he would call out my name a lot. i told him, i guess just naively, i said, i feel your pain. he was able to reply something, you have no idea. my whole leg had become numb from my knee down. and then shortly after that, my left leg started going numb. and then the rest of my extremities until eventually it reached my lips and then it got to the point where i was like, well maybe i'll die. >> just about then, louis saw headlights appear in the distance. >> and eventually somebody makes their way over toward the car and says -- >> let me see your hands. >> it was the sheriff's deputy. that's when louis weakly stuck his left hand up out of the meadow grass. >> i laid there on the ground for a while and somebody was

holding on to my leg trying to stop the bleeding and so they were sticking their hand in my wound. i was surprised i could still feel pain because my leg had gone numb so long that all it remained was pain. >> i can't feel my leg at all except for the pain. >> what i remember was i got loaded into a paramedic. at this point, just major relief. >> rory was air lifted out to a hospital in reno. he was barely alive, no longer conscious. telling the story was not easy for louis. >> wait a minute. sorry. >> okay. >> his anxiety was not hard to understand, but what didn't make sense, how his account differed on some very key points from that of chad wallin reed, the man who confronted them. for example, chad accused the young men of firing first during the car chase. >> the next thing i know as i'm looking up i see these three flashes. and then i hear, crack, crack, crack, crack.

>> but according to louis, that never happened. what's more, he said, chad didn't seem worried they had a gun when he approached their car. did he at any point say, are you armed or do you have a gun or throw your weapon away or anything like that? nothing like that, which is kind of confusing seeing as he accused us of shooting at his house. but he was pointing the gun at us like we were armed. >> so he came up to the car and said, were you the one shooting at my house? >> yes. >> he didn't say, shoot at me in the car? >> no. >> odd. remember, chad told the police the young men shot at him during the chase. >> did he ever that night say, why were you shooting at me in the car or you shot at me in the car or anything like that? >> nothing like that, no. >> did you have a gun? >> no. did anybody in the car have a gun? >> no. >> did you own a gun? >> no. >> the police were looking for a

gun of course. couldn't just take somebody's word for it. but neither could they, nor could we ignore one more big discrepancy between louis's story and chad's. remember, in his interview chad said he told louis and his friends when he left them in the meadow that he was going to get help. >> he said, i'm going to go call the sheriff. >> but that is not what louis heard. no, he said. he remembered quite clearly what the assailant said just before he got into his truck to leave. >> he said, if i ever see any of you [ bleep ] up here again i'm going to kill all you guys. >> coming up, police try to figure out who is telling the truth about the confrontation. and they soon find chad's account is changing. >> i think it finally sunk in that he was going to get caught in the story. >> when "dateline" continues. [ whistle blows ] ♪

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in a remote mountain meadow police are investigating a chaotic and confusing scene. three men, badly wounded, one of them critically. a young father with a house nearby says he shot them in self-defense after they terrorized his family. meanwhile, two women are frantic with worry, one for her husband, the other for her son. for both of them, what's about to happen is unthinkable. once again, here's keith morrison. >> there is, safe to say, no way on this earth a mother can be adequately prepared for the news

carol starzza was about to receive. it was sunday morning, july 3rd. she had just gotten a message, call back now. >> i knew something was wrong, something was wrong. and i called back immediately and i just couldn't believe it. >> come quickly, they said, to the hospital. >> all we knew was he was in critical condition and we needed to get there as soon as possible and that's all they would tell us. >> so carol raced along the highway to reno and her son, rory. that same sunday morning chad and carrie's children woke up to the sound of strangers rummaging through the cabin. >> and searched through our stuff and they took all the guns and i was crying when i woke up because i didn't know who they were. >> must have been terrifying. >> yeah. >> and then the strangers told them their parents were explaining things to the police. >> i knew my dad had it under control. he was very smart and

thoughtful. >> in fact, all night chad had been in deep conversation with detectives from the plumis county sheriff's office. >> i explained to them what had happened and i was very upset. >> going over again and again what happened at the cabin, on the road, in the meadow. here chad explained what was in his mind when those men seemed to be terrorizing his family, how he decided he had to do something to protect his kids. >> get their license plate or something. that's what the military trained us to do was react. you know, they train you to do th that, on foot, on cars. i was a ranger. >> he told detective steve fay how the men in the car had fired

at him. how, in self-defense, he fired back. >> he talked about that with his training that he had received from the military to continue to follow the threat, neutralize the threat, got into his zone and he needed to neutralize the threat. >> got into his zone. >> his zone. >> like a military term. >> yes. >> the people on the other side of the road. >> then detective fay decided to take chad on a tour to recreate the almost eight-mile chase and the shooting on location and on videotape. >> you come out of your driveway. >> we drove with mr. wallin reed from his cabin in my vehicle, videotaping. and he took us right back here to the meadow here. >> about here. that stretch. is when i saw him shooting at me. >> right here. >> hooked back in here is when i

fired when he was coming back this way. >> in this corner right here? >> yeah. >> chad made it quite clear he used a small pistol, 380 caliber, to return fire during the chase. >> he told us he knew exactly where he shot from. so i'd get out and mark the area so we could go back and search for casings. >> then the cops took chad down that dirt road which led into the meadow. and there they could plainly see that other officers had already marked several shell casings in the meadow. and, abruptly, chad's story changed. >> i had spent many hours with him that night questioning him, asking him if any other firearms had been used, and he continually said no. then at the very end of the interview and the drive then he finally did tell us there was another gun he used. >> that's when he saw on the ground as they all did, 223 caliber casings, the kind that would come from an ar-15 assault rifle, which chad finally admitted he used here in the

meadow. >> and prior to that, had you shot the 223 at them at any other time? >> not that i recall. no. >> okay. >> then his story changed again. he admitted he fired the ar-15 just before he got to the meadow. >> how about behind us? when you shot at them coming off the dirt road? >> yeah. i take that back. that was when i shot the ar the first time. >> okay. were you moving when you did that? >> yes, sir. >> i think it finally sunk in that it was all going to come back to him and he was going to get caught in his story. >> why the initial reluctance? well, perhaps because the ar-15, which chad bought legally in nevada, was illegal in california. though chad said he didn't know that. at any rate, now chad details how he used the rifle again when he saw rory's car make a sudden u-turn.

>> i thought they were going to get out, engage me. >> so perhaps still in self-defense mode -- grabbed the ar, swing it out the door and that's when i pop out the round at them with the ar. >> okay. so when they drove past you coming back this way you were shooting with the ar then. >> yes, sir. >> and so there it was. chad's story. but as detective fay listened, something seemed off. >> just somewhat odd that the story as it unfolded each time we talked to him it kind of, it somewhat changed. >> then that morning detective fay heard from his colleague chris hendrickson, who had spent his night talking to those young men. rory mcguire, now in surgery, wasn't able to talk. but the other five, said detective hendrickson, he talked to them separately, told exactly the same story. how they stole the solar lights, were chased, tried to surrender, and then made a wrong turn.

>> rory mcguire didn't know this area that well, and the kids realized after they passed it that they had missed this turn right here that goes down to antelope lake. >> why antelope lake? because, the men told detective hendrickson, there were cabins there, people, safety. >> that's what they believed. they believed they would be just a few minutes from safety. >> but the main thing those young men told detective hendrickson was they did not shoot at chad wallin reed. in fact, they assured him, they didn't have a gun. did you ask them? did you push them on that? >> oh, i pushed them. i said, listen, if there was a gun, you need to tell us. i mean, if you had a gun and were shooting back, you would be in your right defending yourself because you're being shot at. they would always say, no, no. there was no gun. guarantee you. >> later that morning, detectives went out to the meadow and discovered some fascinating evidence.

for one thing, shards of broken glass, which clearly marked precisely where the car was, when chad blew out the window. curious. it wasn't exactly where chad said it was. and something else. rory's car must have hit a rock during its rush through the middle just after it made its u-turn further out in the meadow. >> it started draining the oil out the car. >> there clear as a giant magic marker a brownish black trail through the long grass of the meadow. interesting. and now it was something like 12 hours since chad ran off to chase those men. he was exhausted, had been he said entirely cooperative with the cops, told them everything he knew. he was ready now to go home to his wife carrie and their three kids. so what happened next was something he did not expect. he was arrested for attempted

murder and also assault with a deadly weapon. >> as the 4th of july approached, chad wallin reed was booked in the local jail. could any outcome be worse? well, yes it could, and was about to be for everyone. coming up -- grief and shock as a mother finally finds out what happened to her son. >> it was horrible. the nurse, immediately, her face, she looked at me. i knew. is a daily game of "what if's". what if my abdominal pain and cramps come back? what if the plane gets delayed? what if i can't hide my symptoms? what if? but what if the most important question is the one you're not asking? what if the underlying cause of your symptoms is damaging inflammation? for help getting the answers you need, talk to your doctor and visit crohnsandcolitisinfo.com to get your complimentary q&a book, with information from experts on your condition.

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[ mom ] that's my tide. here's why people move to the high sierra. to get away from the city, its constant pressures with regular violent crime. at least that is how it was for the plumas county new district attorney david hollister who moved here after years of prosecuting the worse that oakland had to offer.

he came for the quiet, the family values. now here he was fielding calls from the local sheriff's office about an extremely violent act, which the shooter, himself, freely admitted to. >> we're small enough where any type of homicide that occurs i get called right away. >> so how much did you have to do with the decision to charge him? >> everything. >> and in what the detectives told him, what happened seemed pretty clear to da hollister. >> he chased those boys 7.6 miles and he shot to kill. >> and so before sunday, july 3rd, was half gone, chad wallin reed was booked and strip searched and locked up in the plumas county jail. the charge? attempted murder. what was that like when they took him? >> very, very hard. for them to take my husband away. >> didn't expect it? no.

i -- as far as, you know, i never expected for us to be apart in such a manner. i never envisioned being away from my husband. >> back in the woods at chad's cabin the detectives who arrested him prowled the property, still decorated in 4th of july bunting, looking for evidence. >> the ar-15 was inside on the gun rack. there was also a closet inside the cabinet that contained a large amount of ammunition for various guns -- shot guns. >> out on the edge of chad's property out near the road the detectives found that unusual no trespassing sign. you're entering the roc, the sign said, which meant the republic of chad. this is a restricted area. only red-blooded patriotic christian americans are authorized for access. the use of deadly force is authorized for use on those found in noncompliance. the young men in the car thought

it was some kind of joke. it didn't seem that way now. at the very same time, still july 3rd, the driver of the shot up car, rory mcguire, was in a reno hospital. his mother, carol, was by his bedside in the icu as he lay with a bullet in his brain. >> it was horrible. i didn't know what critical condition meant, so i really didn't know critical meant probably not going to make it. and the nurse immediately, her face, she looked at me. i knew. >> but it was weird, said carol, when she saw rory lying there unconscious. >> he actually looked perfect. i was very shocked. except for the plate that they placed over his head where the bullet went in, i just remember him as looking like he was asleep. >> you can't get it out of your head. >> every day i think of that.

i think of that every single day. >> rory's father, carol's ex-husband, dave mcguire, came, too. tried, not successfully, to hold back his soaring rage. a soldier did this? >> i put myself in that same scenario, and if i needed to i would defend myself, but once it's over, it's my responsibility to render aid. this is not a battle zone. this is some hick town in california. >> around the same time at the jail in quincy an hour and a half away chad placed a telephone call to his father. the call, of course, was recorded. >> i just got freaked out about the kids and people screwing around and i just lost it, just

went in to a little bit of a zone. and it got out of control. >> but as the hours stretched through the night into july 4th chad began to see more and more clearly that he was not to blame. those men shot at him. and he never set out to hurt anyone. >> i can honestly sit there and say, i didn't get in my vehicle. i didn't sit there at the moment i had the ar-15 saying i'm going to pick this weapon and i'm going to go down there and i'm going to kill these guys. heck, no. no way. there ain't no way. >> in fact, thought chad, it was really he and his family who were the victims here. >> if they had never shot at me there would be no reason for a gun. there would have been no reason for me to fire, to shoot, to use the firearm. my mind frame, these people are trying to kill me. >> carrie visited her husband in jail to tell him that she was in his corner and would always be, no matter what.

do you wish that he just kind of stopped along the way somewhere and said oh, just let them go and come back? >> no. >> because you wouldn't have this problem now. yes, i guess to a point as far as the problem being that my husband's not at home, but we would still be in fear that these people would come back to our -- to terrorize us more. he was protecting us. he was making sure that we were safe. >> and then as the long holiday weekend wound down, it got even worse for all of them. rory mcguire died. >> just a couple hours after we got there and that was the end. he was gone. he was brain dead at that point. >> how do you get used to a thing like that happening to you? >> i still feel like i need to

go help him in the car in the meadow. >> it changes life forever. >> forever. we'll never be the same. >> and a few hours later the loving husband, doting father, army ranger, chad wallin reed, was now an accused murderer. >> they took me back down to the booking area. you're being charged with first-degree murder. >> what did that feel like? >> i can't describe it. when you look at the word "murder" and it describes heinous, premeditated, malicious, aforethought, that's pretty grotesque. >> bail was set at a million dollars. money chad and his family did not have. but out there in the wider world a new issue was emerging called

stand your ground and also, a certain attorney discovered, there were some tiny specification of evidence at the crime scene that just might set chad free. and was there something else that might prove chad fired in self-defense? >> i found three 380 casings that were not from chad's gun. >> when "dateline" continues. heart healthy, huh?! ugh! actually progresso's soup has pretty bold flavor. i love bold flavors! i'd love it if you'd open the chute!

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for most of two years, often twice a week, carrie wallin reed drove back and forth through the high sierra to visit her husband in the plumas county lockup. not easy. >> horrible. it was just the worst, being without my husband and the children being without their father. it's just -- it's unimaginable. >> and the children?

stayed home and worried, mostly. >> sometimes i'd cry for my dad. when he's sick, i'd cry hard because i don't know if he might die from -- if he's sick or if he'll be okay. >> at the very same time, rory mcguire's mother, carol, cried for a son, a future, and expectations gone forever. what do you think is the appropriate thing that should happen to this man? >> never step foot outside of prison ever again. not be able to see, not have conjugal visits with his wife, not be able to see his children, their birthdays, marriages. i now am cut short of all of that with my son. >> and in little quincy, stuck in his cell, chad had all the time in the world to think about what he did.

starts this triple effect of if you never had a gun -- but something just grabs me inside to say, they were wrong. they scared your family. >> chad found himself fuming about the first-degree murder charge against him. felt his alleged victims were the ones in the wrong. did they deserve to be stopped? absolutely. they don't deserve the right to do that to people. >> fuming is possibly all chad might have done except a prominent defense attorney named john olson heard about chad's predicament and sought the way to sort of set him free. >> the sort of stand your ground idea? >> yeah, yeah. >> california doesn't have a stand your ground law per se like some states do but there is a state jury instruction that says a person under threat has a right to stand his or her ground and even pursue an assailant. chad wallin reed said attorney olson is just the sort of person

for whom that defense was intended. >> he's not a gang banger. he doesn't have a criminal record. he has a good, clean military record. >> chad began looking forward to a trial. turned down a deal from the d.a. >> there's a story to be told. there are things that need to come out. i think the trial will be a rather awakening. >> first they had to choose a jury, which would be from quincy, a place with gun owning people and liberal city transplants. >> a lot of letters went to the local paper i think pretty evenly divided between people saying the state ought to reimburse chad the cost of his ammunition and people saying, you know, i moved up here from the bay area to get away from all this. people shouldn't have guns and they shouldn't shoot guns. >> when the trial began this

past summer, olson seemed satisfied with the jury he could that it could go either way but -- >> my desire is to walk him out of that courtroom, take him by the elbow and lead him out of the courtroom, turn him over to his family. >> here's how olson presented his stand your ground defense in his opening to the jury. >> he shot at them because he was fired upon. >> olson told the jury his client was a protective family man doing what he thought he had to do as a father after those menacing visits to his house. >> after that they were afraid. i think it sets the tone for his state of mind. >> he wanted to protect those two sweet little girls. >> yes. >> you want to show the jury the two sweet little girls he wanted to protect. >> sure. fair enough. >> some of the jury wept as 12-year-old darylin repeated the story she told us about the night the men came to their property. >> i remember i screamed to my dad and mom, what are you going

to do if they come back and what would happen if somebody got hurt. >> what did they say? >> they said that everything was going to be okay and that my dad is here to protect us. he can protect us. >> then carrie, chad's devoted wife, took the stand. determined to protect her husband, just as she believed he protected her that night. >> what was the effect of this incident on you and your husband? >> it scared us. tremendously. >> and that's the reason chad chased those men, said carrie. he was no monster. >> what was his mental or emotional state? >> distraught. >> have you ever seen him that way before? >> no. crying? >> he was. >> the whole case would boil down to whether chad was fired upon and shot back in self-defense. olson says the evidence backed

chad up. >> i think we pretty well proved there was a gun in the victims' car that they fired at chad. >> the young men in that car not exactly boy scouts said olson. >> well, the police asked these people if they had guns and they said no. we wouldn't carry guns. we would never carry guns. one of them we have a facebook page displaying both a gun and a knife. >> they must have had a gun that night, said olson, because on the route of the chase investigators found three shell casings, casings that did not match any of chad's guns. >> the interesting thing though is he said they shot at me three times and they found three 380 casings that were together that were not from chad's gun. corresponding with the three shots. >> and there was another truly stunning clue collected on the night of the shooting, said olson. according to his forensic expert

there was gun residue inside the young men's car and even on some of their hands. >> somebody shot out of that car. >> because? >> because of the gun shot residue in the car, the lack of bullet strikes on that side of the car, and the gun shot residue on the hand of the person who was riding shotgun if you will. >> why did chad keep shooting at the car after it made a u-turn? very good reason, said his attorney. >> if they turned around and were coming back out of there, those two cars would be on the same track with the car coming right at him. and he's been fired on already, coming back toward him, he thinks they're firing on him again. >> chad declined to take the stand in his own defense. so the jury didn't get to hear him say he did the right thing. he did what he had to do when he squeezed the trigger. is it possible you were wrong? >> no. >> so, a case for self-defense any jury would have to take seriously.

and thus, prosecutor david hollister's big challenge. time to bring out a little ammunition. literal trail of evidence through the grass. a sticky, brownish black mess that told a fascinating story. coming up -- rory's best friend comes face to face with the man who shot him. >> when i looked out my heart kind of jumped. sprint network is important. today we honor jenna's facebook activity. stephanie has sent you a friend request. you and stephanie are now friends. hannah has sent you a friend request. you and hannah are now friends. greg has sent you a friend request. [ male announcer ] in honor of all the important things you do on our network, sprint brings you one up. upgrade to a new phone every year and get unlimited talk, text, and data guaranteed for life now only $65/month. trouble hearing on the phone? visit sprintcaptel.com and some wonder about what they see. some do their chores at the crack of dawn.

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the old plumas county courthouse, lovely in the autumn sun, has pride of place here on main street in quincy, california. inside, up on the top floor is an overworked d.a.'s office all too accustomed to the limited funding of a small town. a fact of life david hollister had to consider very carefully

as he prepared to prosecute chad wallin reed for first-degree murder. >> we better do this case right and we better do it once because that's about our only shot at it. >> sure. >> we've pretty much burned our budget for trials for the year. >> the trouble was this was a difficult case from the start. >> the defendant, after all, was not just a family man, the father of these three adorable children, he was as he told the detectives ex-military. once an army ranger. you don't get to be one of those without good judgment, real character, and on top of that there was the wild card jury. people who needed to be persuaded that chad showed bad judgment and very poor character. nkt ladies and jeff the jury the evidence is going to show the defendant was not in imminent danger when he fired those shots. he was angry. he was -- >> to set the scene so to speak prosecutor hollister showed the

video shot by the reality show cameraman now part of the public record. this was graphic stuff. right there in living color the bloody bodies of injured and apparently terrified young men. the officers trying to attend to their medical needs. >> breathe through your nose. >> how important was that video? >> it gave the jury true understanding of the horror that happened that night. i mean, you've got louis smythe with a leg propped up and the turniquet there and you've got rory mcguire in the back seat with a horrible head injury. i mean, that's something i can't capture in words. >> louis smythe, the young man you met earlier, was a key witness for the state. remember, that bullet from chad's ar-15 shredded louis's leg. he was, frankly, lucky to keep the leg and survive the night. did you see the defendant sitting over there in the courtroom? >> i only looked at him once or twice. my heart kind of jumped and i

knew it was him. >> louis has been a nervous wreck since all this happened he told me. and in court he was no less nervous as he told the jury about seeing the green laser gun site, the flurries of shots fired by the defendant, about the young men's efforts to end the car chase. >> first of all they fled. they drove as fast as they could. they threw out the solar lights. they held a white t-shirt out. if you want to look at a textbook definition for doing everything you can in your power to withdraw and say no more, we're done, they did it. >> and yet, said the prosecutor, chad kept right on shooting. >> he told the detectives, you know, i think that might have been a white flag. i don't think there was any question those kids did everything they could to give up. >> here's the thing. if the young men fired at chad first as the defense went to a lot of trouble to prove, then maybe chad's reaction was reasonable. but did they fire a gun? did they even have one? remember those three nonchad shell casings found on the road

that the defense made such a big fuss about? couldn't have been from the young men, said the prosecutor. and how did he know? simple law of speed versus gravity. >> you're telling me these kids are fleeing at 50 miles an hour, you're telling me they fired three shots, the casings found a foot and a half apart? at 50 miles an hour that is outrageous and crazy. >> remember the defense forensic expert was clear there was gun shot residue in the young men's car and on some of their hands, proving they must have fired a gun. must have. to which david hollister replied, nonsense. that defense expert must not have been privy to all of the evidence. >> the gun shot residue really wasn't gun shot residue. it was elements that could make up gun shot residue. any time a car is hit with that many high velocity rounds from an ar-15 you're going to expect to see lead. >> expert versus expert, matter

of opinion, how would a jury know? what the state needed was something that would prove beyond a reasonable doubt that chad was lying about what happened out there in the night. and it seemed like maybe they had just exactly that. remember chad's insistence that the car came straight at him through the meadow as if for a final showdown? >> it looked like they were coming straight at me. >> like an assault, looked like they were attacking you. >> right. it was just my frame of mind was that these people were coming back to shoot at me. i had swerved my vehicle out of the way of their vehicle. i mean, they were coming straight back at me. we were nose to nose. >> but as the prosecutor told the jury, evidence found in the meadow told a very different story. the detectives took us there to show us. remember how the young men's car hit a rock, cracked open the oil pan? the dripping oil left a

distinctive trail. >> we could see the oil that had been laid down by rory mcguire's car. >> using that trail of oil the prosecutor had an animation created, which showed the car was not heading toward chad's truck but instead was heading around it, away from chad. >> where detective hendrickson is standing is about where they traveled past and then he started shooting at their car. >> how do they know where the car was when it was hit? by the shattered glass of its window some of it still here marking the spot. and the glass told the story, too, they said, about the true intentions of chad wallin reed. >> his shot placement was very well placed. it was head height, shooting at the windows of the vehicle. one went low into the rear passenger door, which then went into smythe's leg but most of the shot placement was high. >> in other words chad wasn't shooting the disabled car said

the prosecutor. the evidence suggested he was shooting to kill the occupants even as they were trying to get away. >> once the defendant in imminent fear of death or great bodily injury -- was he in fear? the answer is no. >> what attitude in your mind did he have when he took out after those kids? >> the last words he said before he got in the truck was i'm going to go get those sons of bitches, and i think he meant it. >> the prosecutor felt confident but in a town divided over guns and self-protection, who could be sure what the jury would decide? this is exactly the kind of case that leads to hung juries. >> absolutely. absolutely. and that's a fear. >> in that case, chad could walk since little quincy couldn't afford to try him again.

and then just as the trial came to its end a long sought bit of information finally landed in d.a. hollister's mail bock. oh, my. >> i was shocked. i don't think there was any other way to put it. >> coming up -- the twist no one saw coming. >> it was very clear the defendant had lied about something you just don't lie about. at farmers, we make you smarter about insurance. because what you don't know, can hurt you. what if you didn't know that posting your travel plans online may attract burglars? [woman] off to hawaii! what if you didn't know that as the price of gold rises, so should the coverage on your jewelry? [prospector] ahh! what if you didn't know that kitty litter can help you out of a slippery situation?

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canned soup. [ laughter ] [ male announcer ] so good, they'll think it's homemade. try campbell's homestyle soup. m'm! m'm! good. it's not often a gift drops in a person's lap -- manna from heaven exactly when it's most needed which, in this case just as the trial was wrapping up was an officially sealed package addressed to the plumas county

d.a. david hollister. >> candidly i give credit to the detective. >> he asked them to track down chad wallin reed's military records just to confirm his background. >> it was something that we simply felt like we had to follow through on. >> remember, throughout chad's interview with police he talked again and again about his army career. >> that's what the military trained me to do is react. >> implying that what he did in that meadow he had first done under enemy fire overseas. >> 12 years in the flipping military. i killed people on the other side of this world. >> maybe even that he had been having some sort of flashback. >> i know i've been out for ten years. but i was a ranger. >> it took nine months, many of them ensnarled in military red tape, but now here were the records. and what they revealed was

nothing short of shocking. in here was confirmation that chad was in the army all right. but that's about all that was true. he was not a ranger. he had not fulfilled his commitment. he had not serveoverseas. head not been in combat overseas. he had not killed people on the other side of the world. he had not done any of those things. >> in fact, the army asked chad to leave. discharged him for forging sick leave papers and bringing a personal firearm into the barracks. this was perhaps the worst -- wearing a combat infantry badge and a ranger tab and other such patches when all of those things which the jury had been made to believe about chad's military service based on his own statements to police were all lies. >> it was very clear the defendant had lied about something you just don't lie about. >> sure. and if he's going to lie about that -- >> absolutely. his talk about i only fired three shots, i used a pistol,

all of these other lies added up. >> the liar, said hollister, who shot those young men out of anger, pure and simple. >> you don't get to chase a person down and kill him. that's not self-defense. >> but defense attorneys stuck to the heart of their case. it was said john olson's partner in their closing argument a clear case of self-defense. >> he was placed in reasonable fear of imminent danger or death by the actions of the occupants of the mcguire vehicle on the road when they were shooting at him. and then when they -- >> self-defense or murder? to wait for a jury's decision is a kind of agony for both sides. rory mcguire's dad, still struggling with an inexpressible anger. >> the justice system can't give him what i feel he has coming.

no amount of jail time will fix it. >> those sweet, sad, innocent little kids. >> my best buddy. >> okay. and you miss him. >> yes. >> yeah. that part is pretty obvious. before the jury even got the case, chad's wife carrie told us she already knew what the outcome would be. >> i mean, in your heart of hearts do you think the jury will say not guilty? >> i know that the lord has told me that chad will be home. >> but then any other thought? >> could i imagine him being away from us? no. no. it hurts. that thought, those words hurt my heart. >> surprising then when carrie heard what chad told us when we interviewed him before the trial. >> what do you think?

are you going to be acquitted? >> no. >> no? >> i'll end up spending the rest of my life in prison. >> you believe that. >> absolutely. >> why? >> i think that -- i don't -- my faith in the legal system is seriously shaken. i think the majority of people have a negative opinion about me. >> of course, no one could know the way the jury would go especially in a town divided like quincy. >> whether it's your first trial or your 50th you're holding your breath. >> they didn't have to hold their breath very long. less than a day. >> we the jury in the above entitled cause find the defendant gregory chad wallin reed guilty of a felony, to wit, murder, first degree, of rory

mcguire. >> guilty of first-degree murder. out of the camera's reach in the gallery rory's mom began sobbing. two years of pent up heart break. >> i knew we couldn't fix what had happened but maybe we'd give her just a little sense of justice. >> i'll never have a friend like that again or somebody i consider a brother. >> that's a picture. >> louis told us it's his duty now to keep rory's memory alive for himself and for carol who's in his life now for good. >> i love carol and i think she loves me back. there's always a place for me in her home. we can't stop talking about him. she's happy i was a front row seat to rory's life and i'm able to tell her about it. >> we already asked carrie what she would do without her chad if she had to. and now he faces 50 years to life. you know, i mean, there are, god knows, countless families of people who are in prison who

wait and wait and wait. and then i can't wait anymore. they have to go on with their lives and they kind of make a new plan. would you ever think about that? >> no. >> no? >> no. >> why is it so important to you? >> he's my husband. he's my soul mate. the love of my life. >> their little cabin, that piece of paradise, is empty now, sold to pay legal bills. >> we have fond memories. we do. and now there's no good memories to be had but we can hold on to the ones that we have. >> and 7.6 miles away, out here in the mountains, snow has begun to blanket the meadow. hiding the only remnants of what happened here. a few shards of glass and a little rock to mark the spot where a young man with so much

potential was wasted. >> part of me feels that rory is fine. >> why do you say rory is fine? >> he's not in the meadow and he's not in the hospital bed and he's not on that road trying to get away from the shooter. he's not afraid anymore. so he's fine. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." we'll be back again next friday at our new time, 8:00, 7:00 central. i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc news, good night. next, the last-ditch effort to prevent a traffic nightmare this weekend. we've got the latest on those b.a.r.t. negotiations.

and good evening on this friday night. i'm jessica aguirre. >> i'm raj mathai. there was a glimmer of home that the b.a.r.t. strike would end late tonight. as it turned out, it was a messy and public display of the deep rooted problem between bro.a.r. and its unions. bottom line, your weekend plans might be affected. jean, the question, what now? >> reporter: well, b.a.r.t. and