Man arrested for double murder in Mineral County

UPDATE: Thursday 5:00 p.m.

A man accused of gunning down a man and woman in a Mineral County bar last week is entering a "not guilty plea" to a pair of murder charges.

47-year-old Kraig Walter Benson was arrested in a manhunt following the shooting that happened late Sunday evening in downtown Superior.

Prosecutors have now said Benson shot his wife, Jennifer Savage Benson in the head, and then shot 43-year-old Logan Gardner, who was tending bar. Gardner died at the bar, while Benson passed after being taken to Mineral County Community Hospital.

Benson entered the "not guilty" plea to two counts of deliberate homicide on Thursday during a video appearance in Mineral County District Court. Bail was set at $5 million and he remains in custody.

ORIGINAL STORY

A suspect is in custody and now investigators will work to pull together all the details of a weekend shooting at a Mineral County bar that left two people dead.

The Mineral County Sheriff's Office is reporting the arrest of Kraig Benson, who was apprehended following the shooting that happened late Sunday evening.

Investigators say the shooting happened at the 4 Aces Bar in Superior around 9 p.m. Sunday night. Deputies were called to the scene with reports that a man had entered the bar and shot a man and a woman.

One of the victims died at the scene, while deputies say the second person was transported to the hospital but died later. The sheriff has identified the victims as 49-year-old Jennifer Savage Benson and 43-year-old Logan Gardner, both well-known in the Mineral County community.

Initially, the Mineral County Sheriff was warning people to be alert with the armed suspect on the loose, and telling them to lock their doors.

However, Benson was later apprehended by Montana Highway Patrol troopers and Missoula County Sheriff's deputies and taken into custody without further incident.

Investigators with the Mineral County Sheriff's Office are working with the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation to collect evidence in the case.

This is the second time violent crime has rocked Mineral County this year. In March, a man was killed in an officer-involved shooting at the St. Regis Travel Plaza. He had been with armed robbers who fled to Western Montana after a holdup in Osborn, Idaho.