Two men are accused of murdering a man in an Ogden transient camp after, police say, they went there to “find and harass homeless people.”
The victim, Brian Racine, was found 4 a.m. Aug. 18 by others at a camp by the 21st Street Pond, near 650 W. 20th Street, according to police statements in charges filed Monday. Racine had been shot in the head, police wrote. He had been staying in the camp with a group of people who said they left him alone near the pond about two hours earlier, police wrote.
About an hour before Racine was found, officers stopped a car that was leaving the area of the pond. Two men were inside, and officers found a .45 caliber gun and marijuana in the car, the charges state.
Later, the driver, 27, “admitted to purposefully going into the wooded area of the 21st Street Pond to find and harass homeless persons with [the passenger],” police wrote. The driver said the passenger shot and killed Racine.
The passenger, 35, admitted to owning the gun found in the car, and to being in the area of the pond at the time Racine was killed, but he said he "didn't see anyone" and did not hear gunshots, charges state.
Both men had scratches on their bodies “consistent with running through a heavy forested area,” charges state. Officers also found a ski mask on the floor of the car on the passenger side. On it were twigs and cotton-like seedheads matching the foliage near the pond, charges state.
Both men were charged with first-degree felony murder and a third-degree felony count of possessing a dangerous weapon as a restricted person.
