Key Takeaways
- A 21-year-old man, Shawn Webster, shot and killed a 50-year-old man, Jason Leroy Sparks, during an attempted attack in his bedroom.
- Webster called 911 after the shooting, explaining that Sparks had followed him into his home and assaulted him.
- Idaho’s Castle Doctrine applies, allowing deadly force against unlawful intruders, which may justify Webster’s actions.
- The sheriff’s office determined no immediate arrest was necessary, but the prosecutor will conduct a thorough investigation before making charges.
- Webster’s cooperative behavior after the incident may positively influence the investigation outcome.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
KOOTENAI, ID — A 21-year-old man shot and killed a 50-year-old who followed him into his bedroom, grabbed him by the throat, and started lifting him off the ground Sunday evening, according to the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies did not arrest him, and the sheriff pointed straight to Idaho’s Castle Doctrine in explaining why.
According to the sheriff’s office, Bonner County Dispatch received a 911 call at approximately 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 19, 2026, reporting a shooting on West 1st Street in the City of Kootenai. The caller was the shooter himself, 21-year-old Shawn Webster, who reported shooting a man who had entered his house and threatened him. After firing a single shot, Webster left the residence and made the 911 call from a nearby gas station, where deputies and Ponderay Police officers located and detained him.
Inside the home, deputies found 50-year-old Jason Leroy Sparks dead in a back bedroom from an apparent gunshot wound. He was pronounced deceased by Bonner County EMS.
Investigators pieced together the backdrop through witness statements. Sparks had been at the house that day repairing a vehicle belonging to his ex-wife, Ashley Sparks, at the West 1st Street home Ashley shares with Webster. Witnesses described hearing yelling at the residence throughout the day. That context matters to the investigation, but it is not why Webster fired. The justification, if the prosecutor agrees there is one, rests entirely on what happened in that bedroom.
At approximately 6:57 p.m., according to the sheriff’s office, Sparks entered the home uninvited, acting aggressively. Webster had received prior threats from Sparks and feared for his safety, investigators said. He retreated to his bedroom. He armed himself with a pistol. Sparks followed him in. Sparks grabbed him by the throat and started lifting him off the ground. Webster fired a single shot into Sparks’ neck. The attack stopped. Webster fled the house and called 911.
The sheriff’s release spelled out the law. Idaho’s Castle Doctrine permits the use of deadly force against an unlawful intruder in your home, workplace, or occupied vehicle. It removes the legal duty to retreat and establishes a presumption that you reasonably feared for your life when facing a forced, unlawful entry.
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What he did afterward should not hurt him either. He fired once, left the scene of the danger, and immediately called 911 on himself, then waited at the gas station where officers detained him without incident. Leaving the scene of a shooting can sound bad on paper, but you are allowed to do it if you are still in fear for your life. You can retreat to safety and then contact police, and that is exactly what Webster did here. Those choices put his account on the record from the first minutes and gave investigators a cooperative witness instead of a fleeing suspect.
That last part matters, because this is not over. Detectives and the Bonner County Prosecutor were in communication during the interviews, and Webster was not arrested for the shooting at this time. The prosecutor’s office will conduct a thorough investigation and make the final determination on potential criminal charges. The defensive account above comes from the sheriff’s office, and until a charging decision is announced, that is what it remains, an account.
