Big Sky Times

A Montana man accused of shooting two females in the south of Billings pleaded not guilty.

Carl Chester Alden, 32 years old, was accused of two counts of attempted deliberate homicide, two counts of assault with a weapon, and one count of attempted sexual intercourse without consent. 

"Preliminary reports indicate a bullet entered her brain and a prognosis is unknown," court records said of one of the female victims, KTVQ reported.

The female victim is a 14-year-old girl and a niece of a woman in her 30s who told investigators that the five of them, including Alden, began their day in Lodge Grass before heading to Billing, Pryo, and the suspect drove them around the countryside. However, at one point he used methamphetamine, the woman said, and "began acting strange, and was very argumentative."   

Alden was charged with multiple offenses in Yellowstone County District Court where Judge Rod Souza set his bond at $1.5 million after a prosecutor said the suspect was on methamphetamine at the time of the shooting. He was arrested in the Blue Creek area south of Billings after the Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office received various 911 calls reporting the shooting that happened on Cormier Road. has

Alden has a prior criminal record in 2014 and pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, Montana News reported.