deep in the woods, a family lives in fear. >> what are you going to do if they come back? >> of a threat from strangers. >> daddy will protect us. daddy won't let anything bad happen to you. >> so when the strangers arrive, a father takes matters into his own hands. >> you hear crack, crack, crack, gunfire. >> the terror, the bullets. it was like shooting fish in a barrel. >> exploding. just complete chaos. >> someone is killed. >> anybody in the vehicle, let

me see your hands. >> it was bad. worse than anything you would see in a movie. >> sometimes i've cried for my dad. >> was this a murder? >> every day i think about -- >> all i could think, what if it was my kids? what about my kids? it was in the dark that the fear began. in the dark with the sounds of the black night around them. then it grew and grew. >> they terrorized our family, our friends. >> who was out there? in the dark? here, miles and miles into primeval woods. so far from safety. from civilized protection. >> they could just come on to our property and invade our lives.

>> but on the 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? >> i still feel like i need to go help him. >> narrator: it looked so innocent now. closed up, dead quiet, empty. here in its place at the end of a 100-yard dirt track that snakes off this lonely country road, deep in the sierra, nevada. but this was not how it wasp. or ever meant to be. no. before it happened, before that summer night in july 2011, this was, well, let them tell it.

>> called police. >> it's awesome, fun. >> in winter, we would do a snowball fight. and then we would come inside and eat and have some hot cocoa. >> narrator: these are the reid children. darylen is the oldest and then georgia and little gregory. mostly, they lived in reno, nevada. but this? this at the end of a two-hour drive into the woods. this was the place they lived. >> you go on hikes, and there's like a lake that was very close. >> and we would fish. >> and we would go up there and fish and swim. it was pretty much awesome. ♪ >> narrator: here they discovered a world far more magical than any city could ever be. it was their father's cabin, really. chad wallen reid, 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 have all grown up. diapers, all the way through, going up there, you know, fishing, boating. you know, swimming. >> narrator: 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. >> narrator: this is where chad taught his children how to exist in the natural world. how to catch a fish, swim in the mountain lake. feel safe in the dark. >> he was an amazing father. he loved his children so much. he's my best buddy. >> he's really funny, and really loving and laugh a lot. >> narrator: 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. though, like a lot of vets, he seemed to carry some baggage. >> there's just some things i would rather not talk about, and things that i would try to get over. i guess. >> narrator: carrie didn't pry, let him deal with it his own way. >> enjoy himself and the lord. he loves his country. he fought for our freedom. it means a lot to him. >> narrator: and now between the children and whatever was out there in the woods, were only their parents. the nearest sheriff's office, almost 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 else there to protect us. >> narrator: and out here, that

was no idle worry. break-ins are not uncommon in the isolated cabins up here in the wilderness. and theirs? >> oh, the cabin has been broken in, you know, numerous times. >> one of the most recent ones, somebody just pretty much ransacked the whole place. >> narrator: 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 t robs you of security. >> narrator: security is why chad gave carrie a recover, taught her how to use it, and stocked the cabin with guns, including a favorite, his ar-15. a lot like his military weapon. security and pleasure. what's the attraction of those? >> i think it's just the fun in shooting them. it's just -- you know, being able to put the 30-round magazine and set up a target and just go at it. >> narrator: 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. >> and if he did fall asleep, it was very lightly. and every noise would wake you up. very easily. >> narrator: then, the 4th of july weekend, 2011. the wallen-reids were joined by some friends who set up a campsite on the property near the road. >> just enjoying each other's company. hanging out. >> narrator: but early on this saturday morning, about 2:00 a.m., chad was jolted awake. >> all of a sudden i heard all of this yelling and commotion, and sounded like somebody was fighting. and i looked out and i saw this spotlight being shibd all over the place. and i was like, what the heck is going on? and then i walk out, and as i'm looking down, this car goes

speeding away. >> narrator: 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. >> narrator: the 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. >> narrator: when morning came, chad inspected his friend's campsite near the bottom of the property. were those footprints of strangers around their trailer? >> it put us on edge, you know. basically, high alert. >> narrator: the commotion, the stolen light, the footprints 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? >> to witness your children scared like that. and insecure. and you as a parent have failed. you know.

and that's how i felt, was as a father, as a person that, you know, is supposed to protect your family, and all i could do was offer words. honey, if they come back, daddy will protect you, daddy will take care of it. >> narrator: a promise he intended to keep. what happened the next night would change all their lives. >> i picked up the pistol that was in my cup holder and pointed it out the window. watch how one sheet of new bounty keeps working, while their two sheets just quit. [ bubbles, baby giggling ] again! [ mom ] why use more, when you can use less. new bounty. the no-quit picker-upper.

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♪ >> narrator: saturday morning, july 4th weekend, 2011. chad wallin-reed and his family were on edge. strangers had come close in the middle of the night, strangers who stole a solar light, and they had been tramping around on their property. more remote. the woods, less like home. and the children?

so they wouldn't be seen. >> narrator: was he lost? looking for help? she took no chances. she reached for the gun chad had taught her how to use. >> i have a revolver, and i was headed towards the door. >> narrator: 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. >> narrator: ramped it up some more. >> oh, yes. >> narrator: that evening, carrie and the kids watched a

movie and fell asleep on the couch. chad fell asleep outside with his friends who had set up camp on his property. >> we were just sitting on the porch, kicking back, relaxing, bsing. >> narrator: what happened next is disputed. which is why we 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 they said they just shot off its headlights and drove up into the highway. >> narrator: what was going on? is that the car the night before the jeep that very afternoon? and now strangers were out there again. >> i picked up the a.r. that was sitting right next to me. >> narrator: his ar-15 bushmaster. he fired a warning shot. >> and then i just remember seeing some guy running away. >> narrator: but would a 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 said, i'm going to try to catch up to these guys, go get them, catch them, get their license plate or get their information or something, you know. because it was apparent this was more than just we're here to play and joke around with you. >> narrator: chad jumped in his truck and gave chase, barreling up the twisty mountain road at up to 50 miles per hour. >> as i was coming up behind him, somebody leaned out the passenger side of the vehicle and was shining a million-power spotlight. i mean, it was just blinding. and then 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, gunfire. >> narrator: a sound chad knew very well. he had been in the army, remember. so what did you do? >> i picked up the pistol that was in my cup holder and chambered around and pointed it out the window and i let off a few rounds. >> narrator: did you hit

anything? >> not that i could tell, no. >> narrator: someone in the car ahead threw solar lights out the window, then waved something. >> like a piece of plastic. something shiny. flying out, you know, hanging out a window. and we kept on proceeding. >> narrator: 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 is okay. >> narrator: 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 slid the car, and at one point the passenger door just started to open up and i thought, you know, these guys are going to get out, they're going to come at me. >> narrator: the dirt road would

lead to a meadow. and the car suddenly made a 180. >> and it looked like they are coming straight at you. looked like an assault. >> right. >> narrator: were they going to shoot him, ram him? what? >> in the military and police, that's what we call an escalation of tactics. until somebody either backs down or the threat is neutralized. >> narrator: the other car kept coming. chad grabbed the ar-15. >> and just shoved it out the window and fired off. >> where were they compared to you? so they were coming this way? >> they were right -- >> right beside you. >> right. >> how many shots? >> i don't recall. i just -- just -- >> let it go? >> right. >> narrator: 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. and 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." it doesn't make you feel very good to have somebody pleading and begging for their life. >> narrator: chad's protective fury lessened for a moment. and then -- >> i remember him yelling, "i have a 3-month-old daughter." and i -- all i could think of was my kids. thinking, you're yelling at me about your daughter? and look what you just did. you know? and what about my kids? did you ever consider my kids? >> narrator: 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?

>> i need to report a shooting. >> narrator: back home, chad faces the reality of what's happened. >> i just remember just this lost look on her face. and i was just saying "i'm sorry." in just 15 minutes? [ chuckles ] [ male announcer ] 15 minutes for a quote is crazy. with esurance, 7½ minutes could save you on car insurance. welcome to the modern world. esurance. backed by allstate. click or call. wake it up with olay regenerist. formulated with a skin energizing complex, it penetrates 10 layers of the skin's surface. because energized skin is younger looking skin. ♪

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>> narrator: late evening. a remote mountain meadow in california's high sierra. his ar-15 at the ready. chad wallin-reed approached the car full of men he believed had been terrorizing him. he and his wife and his children and his peace. he carried his rifle, just like the army trained him. >> i was at the ready. hey, if they came out of that vehicle, made any movements, i could see their hands, you know, approach the vehicle. >> narrator: this is the car chad shot at. as he checked out the inside, clearing it, as they say in the military, he saw the driver had

been hit. >> he was hunched over the steering wheel. and then when i got to the driver's side of the vehicle, he was laid back, and his head was down. i mean, i didn't check for a pulse or anything like that. but there was bullet wound in his neck. >> there were others wounded also, right? >> at that point in time i didn't know. >> narrator: nor did chad know any of the people in the car. who they were, why they approached his home. but once he saw they no longer posed a threat, he said, he told them he would do what he could to find help for them. >> i said i'm going to call the sheriff. >> narrator: and he drove the seven and a half miles back to the cabin. >> as you're driving back trying to figure out what the hell you had done, what was going through your heart, your mind, your soul. >> an assessment. somebody is either dead or dying, something very serious has happened here. what steps do we go through. >> narrator: none of that drive

was occupied with the oh, my god, what the hell have i done. >> no. no. uh-uh. >> narrator: 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. >> and i said, i caught up to them, they shot at me, i shot back, and i think i killed one of them. and at first everybody was like, ah, you know. just laughing and stuff like that. and i said no, i -- i think i killed one of them. >> narrator: chad's wife carrie, up in the cabin with the kids, couldn't tell what chad was saying outside. >> it felt like much longer than it actually was for him to get out of the truck and for him to come inside the cabin. and then he came inside. >> she is like what happened? and i said i took off after, and i think i killed one of them. >> he was so upset. he looked as if he continued to talk 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 -- well, who are you? maybe it was some kind of like an accusation, i guess. and you know, i just remember just this lost look on her face. i've never, ever seen in my entire life. and i was just saying i'm sorry. i'm sorry. >> narrator: but what should he do? chad wasn't exactly sure. he turned to his friend, jason. >> i was thinking, well, i could go back and one of us could go and make a phone call and one of

us could go back and help. and jason was like, no, going back would be a terrible idea. and he said we need to go and call 911. >> narrator: remember, their cabin didn't have a telephone. so carrie got dressed and then she and chad and her friend drove the winding road down the mountain toward the main highway. perhaps nine miles down, hunting for a spot with cell phone reception. >> we had to drive for almost three quarters of the way down to where i normally get reception, and i called out, and i got through. and right as, you know, 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, the dispatcher is what's your address? no addresses. well, where are you at? i'm in plumas county up by antelope lake. >> narrator: he was concerned, he said, about getting help for

the wounded. >> in my mind, it was how are they going to find these, you know, individuals? how are they going to get there to help them? they're out there in the middle of nowhere on a dirt road. >> narrator: this northern stretch of the sierra nevada is an up and down road of river gorges and mountain peaks, difficult to forge and far from any towns or resorts. the few deputies on patrol are scattered over a vast wilderness. and so it's not all together surprising that one of the first lawmen 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 would see in a movie, i'll tell you that. >> narrator: caught on camera. the horrifying real-life scene that first responders found. >> i just remember seeing his hand come up out of the grass,

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>> narrator: in the high sierra, the life of a game warden is a solitary one. hours of driving along back country roads. alone. wardens hunt everything from bear poachers to pot farmers and it's spray that sometimes shoot back. that lone justice angle attracted a reality show which sent a photographer named ben staley to the little town of quincy here in plumas county. >> i had been in the quincy area for a couple months, getting into all kinds of trouble with the california game wardens. >> narrator: it was the 4th of july weekend. late on a saturday night. stehle had been taping with a game warden since daybreak. he was ready to pack it in. then, an urgent call went out 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. >> narrator: they didn't know, in other words, they were

responding to the 911 call from chad wallin-reed, after his armed confrontation with six men on a dark road running through a meadow. while racing to the scene, stehle 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 campgrou campground. >> so we go to this campground, and sure enough, we all hop out, and there's two guys in the middle of this campground with blood on them. one of the sheriffs takes them, they cuff him up and take him right there. and then these guys are like, look, our friends are hurt. and they give us directions to where the incident occurred. >> narrator: 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 on 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, if it was two

people shooting at each other. it was all these conflicting reports coming in over the radio. really scary. >> narrator: stehle and the warden were now joined by a total of three deputies. the makeshift team 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. >> narrator: stehle shot this footage of the encounter, which later became part of the official public record. >> right away, there is two guys coming forward with their hands up. one guy is limping really bad, shot through the leg. they both looked really freaked out. >> narrator: then stehle 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. >> okay. >> hands up! >> and everyone was like, whoa, we've got a hand. >> narrator: stehle recorded everything, the warden, the deputies, argue the wounded men, the hand poking out of the grass.

and then the young man who was connected to that hand. >> tourniquet his leg and the sheriff warden saw right away he had it on too tight and too long. it was very painful. and they took it off. and he was bleeding a lot. >> narrator: this badly wounded man, plus the others, made five. but there was one more. >> and 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, he was moving his mouth. i could hear sounds. i couldn't make -- i couldn't make any words out, you know. but it didn't look good. >> narrator: the driver had been shot in the head. >> it was worse than anything you would see in a movie. this was so violent. and so gory. >> narrator: what happened here? sorting it out fell to detective steve faye and chris hendrickson. >> it was confusing for all the officers responding. they were all under the impression that the suspects were in the meadow in the car and maybe armed, and officers treated them as such. >> narrator: adding to the

confusion, the remote location. multiple locations. >> two gentlemen at the campground, four gentlemen down at this potential crime scene and then i have mr. wallin-reed with another detective in another spot. officers, ambulances, helicopters coming in. it's very chaotic. very chaotic that night. >> narrator: deputies led by sergeant faye. listen to his account of the chase. >> they started shining the spotlight back at me. and then the next thing i know, there's all these muzzlel flashes. >> do you think they were fighting on you? >> yeah, they were firing back at me. >> narrator: but some of the other detectives were out here in the meadow looking for the weapon or weapons. those young men must have fired at chad. they searched the car and they searched around the car. they looked all around the meadow. they found nothing. but then it's a big meadow and those are very deep and very dark woods. some of those young men did run. they could have dumped the gun out there somewhere.

but they didn't all run. >> i've got one off to the right here. left hand up. >> narrator: 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 lewis smyth. lewis. and he is about to give us his account of a july 4th weekend on the dark and lonely road in the high sierra. 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. almond breeze almondmilk

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here is the actual video of the sheriffs deputies, guns drawn, approaching the car, preparing instead, they found shooting victims, three of them, severely wounded. >> somebody makes their way over toward the car, and says -- >> let me see your hands! >> narrator: lewis smyth can be seen in the shooj here, shot in the right leg, bleeding profusely. the belt he used as a tourniquet, pleased just above his knee, possibly saved his life. >> at that point, it's pretty obvious to me i'm going to lose my leg. i'm not sure how long had gone by, maybe an hour and a half. >> narrator: and there were other victims. a bloody and baffling scene for the deputies. who were these men? how did they provoke a violent confrontation with army vet, chad wallin-reed? chad and his family said they had been terrorized. but that was not the story lewis smyth had to tell. lewis' version began an hour's drive away in susanville, california, population almost 18,000.

home to two state prisons, two movie theatres, and on july 4th weekend, 2011, some restless young men in search of fun. it was lewis, of course, and his very best friend, 20-year-old junior college student named rory mcguire. >> he was the center of attention wherever he went. >> narrator: 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 colin. and then he came out with the red hair, and i had to look through a baby name book and i found that the name rory, which means red king in irish. and so hence rory colin mcguire. >> narrator: and that red hair came with a personality to match. >> there was only one rory, and everyone knew who it was. he was vivacious, he was creati creative, he was exciting, he was funny.

he was the life of the party. >> narrator: 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. almost every detail. laugh about little things. i told my mom i wanted a brother, and i felt like i kind of got that with rory. >> narrator: anyway, that friday night, july 1st, rory and lewis were joined by four other young men. in search of a party they had heard about. >> we were looking for a friend of ours brother who was having a gathering up by antelope lake. >> narrator: girls up there, somebody said. so here's what they did. and once again, we prepared special video, this time to illustrate lewis' 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 a campsite. and a bunch of people came out yelling. they were mad, and anyway, everybody kind of got a kick out of that. >> narrator: then one of them remembered some crazy warning signs he had seen by the roadside, 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. >> narrator: deadly force? red-blooded christians only? were they kidding? seems almost like a dare. one of them hopped out of the car. >> he grabs a solar light, and ripped down one of the smaller of the two signs. and comes running back and then we took off from there.

>> narrator: cheap light. maybe 4 or 5 bucks. still -- why did he take the solar light, did he say? >> no. i think it was assumed it was just some sort of random act of vandalism. i guess young kids would do. >> narrator: 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, and 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 went 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 halfway up the grade, and we approach the property again. >> narrator: the wallin-reed property. suddenly, rory stops the car, and again, one of the group

solar lights. >> ten seconds pass or so. and right as caesar was getting into the car, i heard a -- what sounded like a gunshot. >> narrator: rory hit the gas. was somebody shooting at us, they asked each other? lewis, a little freaked out, looked out the back window. >> i turned around, just to see a truck behind us. >> gaining on you. >> yeah. i could pretty much tell that that meant business. and right after that, i remember seeing a green laser traveling around in the car with us. >> narrator: a green laser? a laser from a gun. >> we assumed, yes. it's like you can't believe it. no, they're not going to shoot us. >> narrator: people don't shoot other people, yeah. >> no, not for this. and right after that, i hear pow, pow, pow and every once in a while you would hear a ding. >> narrator: on the car. >> yes. >> narrator: they tried blinding the shooter with their spotlight. didn't seem to help. >> meanwhile, this whole time we

have been trying to call 911. and there is no service. and somebody suggests we wave my white t-shirt out the window. >> let's wave this, maybe he'll stop. >> exactly. we tried every second to have them stop. >> and the guy just kept firing. >> throughout the whole rest of this trip, there's flurries of shots being taken at us. >> desperate now, rushing along a road did he not know, rory suddenly took a wrong turn. >> so we were on this dirt road, still taking fire at different points in time. and he is still chasing us. and eventually what i hear rory say is "this road just came to an abrupt stop." and so he's trying to flip around. >> narrator: trying to get away, said lewis, get around the truck, get out of the meadow they were trapped in. >> the next thing i know, glass is exploding. everywhere. hitting us in the head. >> was the car still moving at that point? >> yes. and it's just complete chaos.

at that point, that was when -- when i got shot. it felt like heat kind of came over my leg. >> narrator: when the car finally came to a stop, those who could ran. >> i said, come on, rory, let's go. and i looked up, and rory had his face in his chest. and i am pretty sure he said "i can't." and right at that moment, i saw the laser light again. and at that point, the gunman approached. >> narrator: wounded, trapped. they could only wait. was the shooter coming to finish the job? >> he starts to circle around the car. the whole while, he's pointing the gun at us.

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♪ >> narrator: in a remote forest meadow, in the dark, a tiny green dot probed the interior of rory mcguire's immobilized chrysler sebring. the laser sight was back, its green dot a roving bulls-eye. lewis smyth crouched, wounded,

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's pointing the gun at us, looking like a s.w.a.t. team or something like that had come in. when he comes up, he says "[ bleep ] you shoot at my house? i've got kids" or something like that. and we said, we didn't shoot at your house. so the gunman points the gun at me and i said, "look, we didn't shoot your house. please, just call an ambulance." and he took off. >> narrator: suddenly, relief. some of the friends had run for cover during the shooting. now they return 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 his head. i'm shot. we just assume we're going to get back in the car, we're going to get out of here and go get help. >> narrator: somehow they managed to move rory to the back seat of the car.

but when one of them turned the key -- >> the car wouldn't start. just kept getting worse and worse. >> narrator: no car, no cell service. no idea exactly where they were. no idea where help might be. no idea if they would survive 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. 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 my calf basically exploded and in numerous pieces. >> narrator: stuck in place. easy targets if the gunman returned. >> we feared he was going to come back and finish the job. >> narrator: some of the young

men decided the car was more target than refuge, and hid in the tal grass of the meadow. >> i didn't feel comfortable staying at the car, and i don't blame them. >> narrator: and now the two best friends, lewis and rory, were trapped in the dark. lewis lay 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 jumbled. it was horrible. he would call out my name a lot. i told him -- i guess not easily that 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.

>> narrator: just about then, lewis saw headlights appear in the distance. >> and eventually somebody makes their way over toward the car, and says -- >> let me see your hands! nfz it was the sheriff's deputies and that's when lewis 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. and i'm surprised i could still feel pain, because my leg had gone numb so long ago, all that remained was the pain. >> i can't feel my leg at all. except for the pain. >> so what i remember was, i got loaded into a paramedic. at this point, it's just major relief. >> narrator: rory was airlifted out to a hospital in reno. he was barely alive. no longer conscience. telling the story was not easy for lewis. >> sorry -- >> it's okay. >> narrator: 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. >> next thing i know, i'm looking up, i see these three flashes. and then i hear crack, crack, crack, crack. >> narrator: but according to lewis, 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. >> narrator: so he came up to the car and said "were you the one shooting at my house." >> yes. >> he didn't say "were you shooting 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? >> did you own a gun? >> no. >> narrator: 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 lewis' story and chad's. remember, in his interview, chad said he told lewis and his friends when he left them in the meadow that he was going to get help. >> i said "i'm going to go call the sheriff." >> narrator: but that's not what lewis heard. no, he said, he remembered quite clearly what their assailant said just before he got into his truck to leave. >> he said "if i ever see you [ bleep ] here again, i'm going to kill you guys."

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there is, safe to say, no way on this earth a mother can be adequately prepared for the news carol starzer 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 call back immediately, and i just couldn't believe it. >> narrator: go 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 be would tell us. >> narrator: so carol, heart in her mouth, 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 -- i was crying when i woke up, because i didn't know who they were. >> must have been terrifying. >> yeah. >> narrator: and then the strangers told them their parents were explaining things to the police. and -- >> i knew my dad had it under control. he was very smart and thoughtful. >> narrator: in fact, all night chad had been in deep conversation with detectives from the plumas county sheriff's office.

>> i told and explained what had happened and he was very upset. >> narrator: 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. >> i'm going to get these sons of [ bleep ] and get their license plate or something. and i took off after them. >> okay, so what -- military training? you know, react? they train you to do that [ bleep ]. track down cars. >> yes. i was a ranger. >> narrator: chad told detective steve pagan how the men in the car had fired at him and how in self defense he fired back. >> he talked about that was his training he received from the military to continue to follow the threat to neutralize the

threat. got into a zone. and needed to neutralize the threat, he felt. >> got into a zone. >> a zone. >> like a military term. >> yes. >> i killed people on the other side of this world. >> narrator: then the detective 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 -- >> and we drove with mr. wallin-reed from his cabin, and my vehicle videotaping and he took us back to the meadow here. >> out here. that stretch. is when i saw the -- him shooting at me. right back in here is when i fired. >> when he was cutting back this way? >> in this corner right here? >> yeah. >> narrator: chad made it quite clear he used a small

pistol, .380 caliber, to return fire during the chase. >> he told us exactly where he shot from. so we -- i would get out and i would mark that area so we could go back and search that area for casings. >> narrator: 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. and then at the very end of the interview and the drive, then he finally did tell us that there was another gun used. >> narrator: 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 that .223 at them at any other time?

>> no, not that i recall. no. >> okay. >> narrator: 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 is 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. >> narrator: 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 detailed how he used the rifle again when he saw rory's car make a sudden u-turn. >> then i thought they were going to get out and engage me. >> narrator: so perhaps still in self defense mode --

>> grabbed the ar and swung it out the door and that's when i popped off the rounds with the ar. >> oh, okay. so when they drove past you, coming back this way, they were shooting with the ar then. >> yes, sir. >> narrator: and so there it was. chad's story. but as the detective listened, something seemed off. >> just somewhat odd, the story. and as it unfolded, each time we talked to him, it somewhat changed. >> narrator: then that morning the detective heard from his colleague, chris hendrickson, who 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. >> narrator: why antelope lake? because, the men told detective henricks henrickson, there were cabins there, people, safety. >> that's what they believed. they believed they would be just a few minutes from safety. >> narrator: 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 as defending yourself, because you are being shot at. they would always say, no, no, there was no gun, i guarantee you. >> narrator: 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 windows. 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 meadow, just after it made the u-turn farther out in the meadow. >> and it started draining the oil out of the car. >> narrator: and left 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. 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. >> narrator: as the 4th of july approached, chad wallin-reed was booked in the local jail.

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♪ >> narrator: here's why people move to the high sierra. to get away from the city, its constant pressures, its regular explosions of violent crime. or at least that's how it was for plumas county district

attorney david who willister who moved to his new job to little quincy, california, after years of prosecuting the worst that oakland had to offer. he came for the quiet, the family values. and 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. >> narrator: and from what the detectives told him, what happened seemed pretty clear. >> he chased those boys 7.6 miles and shot to kill. >> narrator: and suddenly, july 3rd was gone. chad wallin-reed was locked up in the plumas county jail. the charge, attempted murder. >> what was that like when they took him?

>> it was very, very hard. for them to take my husband away. >> didn't expect it? >> no. i -- as far as, you know, i've never -- i never expected for us to be apart. in such a manner. i never envisioned being away from my husband. >> narrator: back in the woods at chad's cabin, the detectives who arrested him prould 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 cabin that contained a -- large amounts of ammunition for various guns. shotguns. >> narrator: now on the edge of chad's property out near the road, the detectives found that unusual no trespassing sign. you are entering the r.o.c., 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 of 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 reasonal hospital. his mother, carol starzer, by his bedside in the icu as he lay with a bullet in his brain. >> horrible. i didn't know what critical condition mentality. 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. >> narrator: 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 -- i just remember him as looking like he was asleep. >> a sight you probably can't get out of your head. >> every day i think of that. i think of that every single day. >> narrator: 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. >> narrator: 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

my kids and people screwing around. and i -- i just -- i just lost it. just went in -- >> yeah. >> went into a little bit of a zone. >> yeah. >> so it got out of control. >> narrator: 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. >> and 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. >> yeah. >> no way. >> narrator: 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. you know, my mind frame, these

people are trying to kill me. >> narrator: 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 stopped along the way somewhere and said oh, the hell with it, let them go and come back. >> no. >> because you wouldn't have this problem now. >> yeah, i guess to a point, as far as the problem being that my husband is not at home. but we would still be in fear of these people would come back to our -- to terrorize us more. he was protecting us. he was making sure that we were safe. >> narrator: and then, as the long holiday weekend wound down, it got even worse. for all of them. rory mcguire died. >> he hemorrhaged 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

something like that happening to you? >> i still feel like he's in the meadow. in the car in the meadow. i still feel like i need to go help him. >> to change his life forever. >> forever. we'll never be the same. >> narrator: 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 it. heinous, premeditated, malicious aforethought. that's pretty -- that's pretty grotesque. >> narrator: bail was set at $1 million.

money chad and his family did not have. but out there, out in the wider world, a new issue was emerging called "stand your ground." and also, a certain attorney discovered, there were some tiny specks 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 3.380 casings that were not from chad's gun. you know, i think our family really needed this. it's really gonna bring us closer together. yep. yep. yep. yep. yep. yep. introducing our best-ever family pricing for instance, a family of four gets 10 gigs of data

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>> narrator: for most of two years, often twice a week, carrie wallin-reed drove back and forth through the high the plumas county lockup. not easy. any of it.

>> narrator: and the children? stayed home and worried, mostly. >> sometimes i've prayed and cried for my dad. and when he's sick, i cry hard, because i don't know if he's -- if he's sick or if he'll be okay. >> narrator: at the very same time, rory mcguire's mother, carol, cried for a son, a future, an expectation 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 con ju gal visits with his wife. not be able to see his children go through birthdays and is marriages and -- because i now am cut short of all of that. with my son. >> narrator: and in little

quincy, stuck in his cell, chad had all of the time in the world to think about what he did. >> it starts this triple effect, well, if you never had a gun, this never would have happened. but then something just grabs me inside to say, they were wrong! they scared your family. >> narrator: 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. >> narrator: fuming is possibly all chad might have done, except a prominent defense attorney named john olson heard about chad's predicament and saw a way, he believed, to set him free. >> a sort of stand your ground idea? >> yeah. >> narrator: california doesn't have a stan 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 gangbanger. he doesn't have a criminal record. he has a good, clean military record. >> narrator: chad began looking forward to a trial. turned down a deal from the d.a. >> there is a story to be told. there's things that need to come out. >> i think that a trial will be a rather awakening. >> narrator: but first, they had to choose a jury, which would be a fight in pretty little quincy. a place composed of gun-owning country folk, and liberal big-city transplants. >> there were a lot of letters to the editor of the local paper. and i think they were 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 auto of this. and people shouldn't have guns and shouldn't shoot guns. >> narrator: when the trial began this past summer, olson seemed satisfied that the jury he got 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. >> narrator: here's how olson presented his stand your ground defense. in his opening to the jury. >> shot him because he was fired upon. and he was in fear himself. >> narrator: olson told the jury his client was a protective family man, doing what he felt he had to do as a father after those menacing visits to his house. >> after this friday night incident, they were afraid. and i think it sets the tone for his state of mind. >> narrator: he wanted to protect those two sweet little girls. >> yes. >> and wanted to show the jury the sweet little girls he wanted to protect. >> sure. fair enough, huh? >> narrator: and some in the jury wept as 12-year-old darlin' repeated the story she told us

about the night the men came to the property. >> 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. >> 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. >> narrator: 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. >> narrator: and that's the reason chad chased those men, said carrie. he was no monster. >> what was his mental or emotional state when he returned? >> distraught. >> did you ever see him that way before? >> no. >> was he crying? >> he was. >> narrator: the whole case, of course, would boil down to

whether chad was fired upon and shot back in self defense. olson said the evidence backed chad up. >> i think we pretty well proved there was a gun in the victim's car. and that they fired at chad. >> narrator: the young men in that car, not exactly boy scouts, said olson. >> well, the police asked these people if they had guns. >> uh-huh. >> and they said no. we wouldn't carry guns. we would never carry guns. and one of them, we have a facebook page displaying both a gun and a knife. >> narrator: 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, they shot at me three times, and they found the 3.380 casings that were together that were not from chad's gun corresponding with the three shots. >> narrator: 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 gunshot residue on the hand of the person who was riding shotgun, if you will. >> narrator: and why did chad keep shooting at the car after it made a u-turn? very good reason, said his attorney. >> if they turn 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 towards him, he thinks they're firing on him again. >> narrator: 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, did what he had to do, when he squeezed the trigger. is it possible you were wrong?

>> no. >> narrator: so a case for self defense any jury would have to take seriously. and thus, prosecutor david who willister's big challenge. time to bring out a little ammunition. a literal trail of evidence through the grass. a sticky, brownish-black mess that told the fascinating story. 2 había una tremenda cantidad de for any accidents on your property? the more you know,the better you can plan for what's ahead. talk to farmers and get smarter about your insurance. ♪ we are farmers bum - pa - dum, bum - bum - bum - bum♪

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♪ >> narrator: the old plumas county courthouse, lovely in the here on main street in quincy,

california. inside, up on the top floor is 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 have pretty much burned our budget for trials for the year. >> narrator: trouble was -- >> this was a difficult case from the start. >> narrator: 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 and real character. and on top of that, there was that wild card jury. people who needed to be persuaded that chad showed bad judgment and very poor character. >> ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the evidence is going to

show the defendant was not in imminent danger when he fired those shots. he was angry and he was mad they were trying to get away. >> narrator: to set the scene, so to speak, prosecutor holster showed the jury the video shot by that reality show cameraman, now part of the public record. >> i'll cover this here. >> narrator: this was graphic stuff. right there in living color, the bloodied 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 a true understanding of the horror that happened that night. i mean, you've got lewis smyth with his leg propped up and the tourniquet 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. >> narrator: lewis smyth was a key witness for the state. remember, that bullet from

chad's ar-15 shredded lewis' leg. he was frankly lucky to keep the leg and survive the night. >> did you see the defendant sitting there in the courtroom? >> i only looked at him once or twice. my heart kind of jumped and i knew it was him. >> narrator: lewis has been a nervous wreck since this all happened, he told us. and in court he was no less nervous as he told the jury about seeing the green laser gun sight and 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 light. they held a white t-shirt out the window. if you want to look at a textbook definition of doing everything you can to withdraw to say no more, we're done. they did it. >> narrator: but yet, said the prosecutor, chad kept right on shooting. >> told the detectives, i think that might have been a white flag. i don't think there's any question those kids did everything they could to give up. >> narrator: here's the thing.

if the young men fired at chad first, which 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 per hour, you're telling me that they fired three shots, the casings are a foot and a half apart. at 50 miles an hour? that's outrageous. that's crazy. >> narrator: but remember, the defense forensic expert was clear, there was gunshot 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 gunshot residue really

wasn't gunshot residue. it was elements that could make up gunshot 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. >> narrator: ah, yes, but expert versus expert, matter of opinion. how would a jury know? what the state needed was something that would prove beyond reasonable doubt that chad was lying about what happened out there in the night. and -- 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? >> and it looked like they were coming straight at you. >> yeah. >> it looked like an assault. >> right. >> looked like they were attacking you. >> right. it was just -- my -- my frame of mind was is that these people are 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. >> narrator: 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. >> narrator: 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. >> and where detective henrickson is standing is about where they traveled past, and then he started shooting at their car. >> narrator: 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 a story too, they said, about the true intentions of chad wallin-reed. >> his shot placement was very, 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 justin smyth's leg. but most of the shot placement was all high, head height. >> narrator: in other words, chad wasn't shooting to disable the car, said the prosecutor. the evidence suggested he was shooting to kill the occupants. even as they were trying to get away. >> was the defendant in imminent fear of death or great bodily injury so that he immediately had to use deadly force. unequivocally, the answer is no. >> so what attitude, in your mind, did he have when he took off after those kids? >> the last words he said before he got in the truck was "i'm going get those sons of bitches." and i think he meant it. >> narrator: 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. >> narrator: 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. holster's mailbox. oh, my. >> i was shocked. i don't think there's any other way to put it. >> narrator: the twist no one saw copying. >> it was very cheer, the defendant had lied about something you just don't lie about. sometimes for small audiences. sometimes for a full house. we perform solos, improvs, even miracles. with over 50% more awarded and highly rated appliances than anyone else, sears helps you perform your best by giving you the best.

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♪ >> narrator: it's not often that a gift drops in a person's lap. from heaven. exactly when it's most needed. which in this case, just as the trial was wrapping up was a carefully sealed, official looking package, addressed to plumas county d.a., david hollister. >> candidly, i give credit to the detectives. >> narrator: 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. >> narrator: remember, throughout chad's interview with police, he talked again and again about his army career. >> that's what military trained me to do is, you know -- react. >> narrator: implying what he did in that meadow he had first

done under enemy fire overseas. >> man, i served five years in the military and i killed the people on the other side of this world. and i don't need [ bleep ] kids in my state. >> narrator: maybe even that he had been having some sort of flashback. >> i've been out for ten years. i was a [ bleep ] ranger. >> narrator: it took nine months, many of them en snarled in military red tape. but now here were the records. and what they revealed is 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 served overseas. he had 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. >> narrator: in fact, the army asked chad to leave. discharged him for forging sick leave papers and bringing a personal firearm into the barracks, and this was perhaps

the worst -- wearing a combat infantry badge and a ranger tab and other such badges 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 the pistol. all these other lies added up. >> narrator: 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 them. that's not self defense. >> narrator: but defense attorneys stuck to the heart of their case. it was, said john olson's partner, in his closing argument, a clear case of self defense. >> he was placed in reasonable fear of imminent danger or death

by the actions of the occupant in the mcguire vehicle, on the road when they were shooting at him. and then when they turned in the meadow and came back at him. >> narrator: 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. >> narrator: those sweet, sad, innocent little kids. >> he is funny, and he's always loving. he protected us a lot. >> okay. and you miss him. >> yeah. >> yeah. that part is pretty obvious. >> narrator: before the jury

even got the case,ed cha's wife carrie told us she already knew what the outcome would be. in your heart of hearts, do you think the jury will say not guilty? >> i already know the lord has said that chad will be home. >> any other thought? >> can i imagine him being away from us? no. no. it hurts. that thought -- those words hurt my heart. >> narrator: 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 been shaken. i think that the majority of people have a negative opinion

about me. >> narrator: of course, no one could know the way the jury would go, especially in a town divided, like quincy. >> you're holding your breath the whole time, whether it's your first trial or your 50th. >> narrator: 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. >> narrator: guilty of first degree murder. out of the camera's reach in the gallery, rory's mom began sobbing. two years of pent-up heartbreak. >> i knew we couldn't fix what it happened, but maybe we would give her just a little sense of justice. >> i'll never have a friend like that again or somebody i considered a brother. >> that's a sweet picture. >> narrator: lewis told us, it's his duty now to keep rory's memory alive for himself and for

carol, who is 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, and we can't stop talking about him. she is happy that i was a front row seat to rory's life and i'm able to tell her about it. >> narrator: at his sentencing hearing, chad addressed rory's family. >> i know there are no words that i can offer that will give you the relief from the pain you experience every moment of every day. >> narrator: we had already asked carrie what she would do without her chad if she had to. and now his sentence. 84 years to life. >> you know, there are, god knows, countless families of people who are in prison who wait and wait and wait. and that's -- i can't wait anymore. and they have to go on with their lives and they kind of make a new plan. would you ever think about doing that? >> no. >> not a chance? >> no. >> why is it so important to you? >> he's my husband.

he's my soul mate. the love of my life. >> narrator: the 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. >> narrator: 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 the 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 that 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. [ cheering and applause ] wow, what an outstanding first half of this super bowl xlviii between the denver broncos and the seattle seahawks. >> absolutely, jimmy. that one play with the one guy who did that one thing, incredible. whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo. >> the big story of this game is the unfortunate news of bruno mars and the red hot chili peppers having to cancel their halftime show. >> yeah, i guess their flight had to be rerouted due to the polar vortex. >> oh, man, i really wanted to see bruno mars. that fedora wearing jumping bean, i just love him. >> fortunately the producers scrambled and were able to find