Prosecutors Release More Details in Fatal Shooting at Superior Bar

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. 

Investigators with the Mineral County Sheriff's Office say Benson entered the 4 Aces Bar and killed 49-year-old Jennifer Savage Benson and 43-year-old Logan Gardner before fleeing. He was arrested later by Missoula County Sheriff's deputies and Montana Highway Patrol troopers near Graves Creek. 

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In court documents, Mineral County prosecutors say surveillance video from the bar shows Benson sitting with his wife at the bar and then going outside to his pickup. They say he then placed something in the waistband of his shorts, locked the truck, and went back inside. Prosecutors say Benson sat back down by his wife, then reached into his waistband, producing the gun and shooting her in the head. As she falls to the floor, investigators say the tape shows Benson firing at Gardner, who had been tending bar, several times, going over to where he had fallen to the floor. Prosecutors say Benson fired 10 shots, placing the gun on the bar, leaving the scene in a Chevy truck with Washington license plates.

Deputies were able to use their license readers and witness reports to track Benson to where he was arrested west of Lolo.

Gardner died at the scene, and Jennifer Benson passed after being taken to Mineral County Community Hospital where doctors were unable to save her.

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 dollars and he remains in custody. The Montana Division of Criminal Investigation is assisting with the investigation.