Teen pleads not guilty in shooting

Joseph James Fohrenkam, 18, pleaded not guilty to second-degree manslaughter charges in the shooting death of his friend, 16-year-old Joseph James Peterson, in a virtual hearing held Monday, Feb. 1 in Sixth District Court in Duluth.

According to the criminal complaint, Fohrenkam was drinking with four other young men — Peterson was the youngest — in a parked truck outside a home on the 3600 block of Giiniw Road the night of Dec. 27. According to three witnesses who were interviewed by law enforcement, they were just drinking and talking, not arguing. Fohrenkam allegedly had a pistol, which he was “showing off” and “waving around.” At least two of the witnesses said they thought Fohrenkam may have hit his arm on the center console when he was pulling it back, causing the pistol to discharge. Peterson was seated in the middle of the back seat. The bullet hit him below his left eye and killed him.

Fohrenkam fled with his mother, Littlefawn Fohrenkam; both were later apprehended in Mahnomen, Minnesota a week later.

Bail remains at $400,000. Fohrenkam’s next hearing, a settlement conference, is scheduled for March 4.

Manslaughter charges are not murder charges: in this case, the charge description notes that Fohrenkam caused “the death of a human being” and is culpable because he created an “unreasonable risk and consciously took a chance of causing death or great bodily harm to another.”