|
#1
●
04-25-2012, 12:48 PM
|
|
Idaho Professor Shoots Ex-Student 11 Times, Then Himself
A former University of Idaho professor shot and killed a 22-year-old graduate student he had once dated, firing 11 rounds into her outside her Moscow home before killing himself in a hotel room the next morning, according to Moscow police and news reports from August 2011. Katy Benoit, of Boise, was struck 11 times by .45-caliber gunfire at about 8:40 p.m. on Aug. 22, 2011, as she stood outside her rented house on South Lilly Street, police said. An autopsy confirmed the number of wounds. Benoit had recently finished her undergraduate degree and was beginning graduate work in the psychology department. Two roommates were inside the house when Benoit stepped outside and the shots rang out, according to police and court records. They found her covered in blood, ran to a car and called 911. Asked by the dispatcher whether anyone would want to hurt Benoit, one roommate named Ernesto A. Bustamante, calling him "the only person I know of" and adding that he had just been forced out of the university. A neighbor reported seeing a man in a dark trench coat and hat leaving the scene. Bustamante, 31, was a former assistant professor of psychology who had taught at the university since 2007. His relationship with Benoit had ended earlier in 2011. On June 12, 2011, Benoit filed a sexual harassment complaint with the university, stating that Bustamante had pointed a handgun at her on several occasions; her roommates later told police he had put a gun in her mouth. Bustamante resigned on Aug. 19, three days before the shooting. Police issued a warrant for Bustamante's arrest and found his body the morning of Aug. 23 in a room at the University Inn Best Western in Moscow. He had died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, investigators said. A friend told police that Bustamante kept several handguns and had described himself as having multiple personalities, including ones he called "the beast" and a "psychopathic killer." Benoit's family filed a $3 million tort claim against the University of Idaho in December 2011, alleging the school had been warned that Bustamante carried firearms on campus and had talked about shooting students, yet failed to act. The university settled in April 2012 for $375,000, which the family directed to charity through a memorial fund in Benoit's name. The agreement also called for closer coordination with Moscow police, an anonymous reporting system for students and staff, and an annual campus safety event named for Benoit. The 911 recording made by Benoit's roommates is attached. ·
__________________ Support the site and our continued existance by upgrading to a Green Name |