Chandler Wyatt Stalcup, an 18-year-old White male, had moved from his hometown of Crystal River, Florida, to Billings, Montana, to pursue his dream of playing college football. In the fall of 2023, he was a freshman defensive lineman for the Battlin' Bears at Rocky Mountain College. Friends and family remembered him as a young man with a big heart, a quality that tragically placed him in harm's way.
In the early morning hours of October 28, 2023, a fight broke out at a house party on
15th Street West. Stalcup was not at the party and was not involved in the altercation. He received a call from a friend who was there and needed a ride home. Stalcup drove to the house to pick him up. After he arrived, an older black sedan pulled up. The occupants, wearing ski masks, confronted Stalcup's group before someone leaned out of the passenger side and fired several shots into the air.
In the ensuing chaos, Stalcup and two others got back into his car and drove away. The black sedan followed them. Near the Rocky Mountain College campus, in the 900 block of Poly Drive, the pursuing vehicle pulled alongside Stalcup’s car. A passenger in the sedan fired a single round through the driver's side window, striking Stalcup in the head. He was rushed to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries and placed on life support. He died two days later, and his organs were donated.
The investigation led police to two local teenagers. Sidney Cruz DeCrane Jr., who was 16 at the time, was identified as the shooter and arrested for deliberate homicide. The driver of the sedan, 17-year-old Garrett Jarvis Door, was arrested and charged with deliberate homicide by accountability. Authorities stated that while the suspects had gang affiliations, they believed the shooting was a case of mistaken identity and that the teens wrongly thought Stalcup had been involved in the fight at the party.
Both teenagers were charged as adults. In January 2025, Garrett Jarvis Door reached a plea agreement. He was sentenced in Yellowstone County District Court in April 2025 to 60 years in prison for his role in Stalcup's death. The shooter, Sidney Cruz DeCrane Jr., was sentenced in November 2025 to 75 years in prison for the murder. The case is considered closed as of his sentencing.
