On the weekend before Thanksgiving 2025, police in Evanston, Wyoming, were called to a home on Granite Drive in the pre-dawn hours after reports of a shooting. Inside, officers found 49-year-old Michael Grasse critically wounded from multiple gunshot injuries. First responders rushed him to Evanston Regional Hospital, but despite emergency treatment he was pronounced dead at about 4:22 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 22.
According to an evidentiary affidavit later filed in court, investigators learned that there had been ongoing conflict in the household the previous day. Michael had reportedly been drinking on Friday, and he and his adult son argued repeatedly throughout the day and into the night. In the early morning hours, the confrontation ended in gunfire in and around his son’s bedroom. Police say they recovered a Taurus. 22-caliber semiautomatic pistol from that room, along with three spent. 22-caliber shell casings and one remaining live round in the chamber, consistent with statements that Michael had been shot at least three times.
Officers took Michael’s 23-year-old son, Ethan Grasse, into custody and transported him to the Evanston Police Department, where a detective advised him of his Miranda rights before conducting a recorded interview. In that interview, according to the affidavit, Ethan admitted that he had fired the shots that struck his father, telling detectives that he kept the pistol in his room and had used it during the encounter. He also described the prior day’s drinking and fighting, offering his version of the escalating tensions leading up to the shooting.
Prosecutors subsequently charged Ethan Grasse with second-degree murder in connection with his father’s death. A judge set his bond at $100,000 cash-only, and he was booked into the county jail pending further proceedings. Court records cited in local reporting indicate that his preliminary hearing was scheduled for Dec. 1, 2025, a step at which a judge would decide whether there is probable cause for the case to move forward toward trial. If ultimately convicted of the charge as filed, he faces a possible sentence ranging from 20 years to life in prison under Wyoming law.
In a handwritten request for release filed with the court, Ethan asserted that he had acted in self-defense. He wrote that he awoke to someone forcing their way into his room at around 4 a.m. and claimed he did not realize it was his father. In the same document, he expressed remorse to his family and emphasized that he “did not mean to kill any one,” insisting that his intent was to protect himself from what he perceived as an unknown intruder. Those assertions have not been tested at trial, and as of the latest public reports he remains an accused suspect, legally presumed innocent while the investigation and court process continue.
