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FARGO, N.D. (AP) — A man charged with three counts of murder in the shooting deaths of two co-workers and their unborn child at a North Dakota factory last year has changed course and wants to proceed with a trial, the defense said. Change of hearing on Monday.
Anthony Reese Jr., of Moorhead, Minnesota, has abandoned plans to plead guilty to the charges, according to the clerk of the Cass County District Court office.
According to a criminal complaint, Reese, 36, is charged with killing 43-year-old Richard Pittman and 32-year-old April Carbone.
Last November 17, police responded to multiple 911 calls reporting an active shooter at Composite America in Fargo and located the victims. Carbone was pronounced dead at the scene and at Pittman Hospital.
Pittman, Reese and another employee, Pourde Kegbe, were involved in an altercation on the factory floor before the shooting, authorities said. Management ordered Reese to leave the business, but he returned a short time later and confronted Pittman, Kegbe said.
Kegbe told police that Reese pulled out a handgun and shot Pittman several times.
Reese drove to the Fargo Police Department later that day and turned himself in. He told officers he left the gun in a residential area, and investigators later found a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol. Detectives also recovered 9 mm cartridge casings from the crime scene.
Reese’s attorney, Tracy Reams, declined to elaborate on Reese’s plans to go to trial, saying any comment would affect the defense strategy.
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