Prosecutors say argument led to shooting

BOISE – An argument with a babysitter and a jammed handgun led to an indiscriminate shooting that killed a 14-year-old bystander, prosecutors say.

Kenneth Elcock went to a Boise apartment April 15 to settle an argument, confronted two men outside and tried to fire a 9 mm handgun that jammed, police said. The men fled into the apartment, where about 20 people were at a party.

Elcock then fired as many as 10 shots through a window into the front room of the apartment, according to court documents obtained by the Idaho Statesman.

Elcock told a witness that he “meant to hit every (expletive) thing in there … every (expletive) person” in the apartment, police and Ada County prosecutors said.

April Buenrostro, a high school freshman from Meridian, was killed. Three others – including a man involved in the original argument – were injured, none seriously. Buenrostro’s killing was the first in Boise this year.

Elcock, 25, is charged with first-degree murder and several other felonies in the case.

Witnesses told police Elcock said he was angry at Beaufis Bashale, the host of the party, because Bashale had yelled at a babysitter who was watching Elcock’s children at a nearby apartment. Bashale, 28, was hit by the gunfire.

Ada County Deputy Prosecutor Connie Vietz told 4th District Magistrate James Cawthon that Bashale yelled and threatened a man who is friends with the babysitter and a relative of the mother of Elcock’s children.

The babysitter called that friend, who was with Elcock at a bar. Elcock, the friend, and several other men went to the apartment complex, where Elcock got a 9 mm handgun from another man, Vietz said.

Elcock went to Bashale’s apartment to confront him shortly after midnight, according to the court testimony. According to testimony, Elcock saw Bashale and another man smoking outside the apartment, aimed the gun at the man’s face, and pulled the trigger, but the gun jammed.

Elcock is accused of then firing an estimated 10 shots through the front window. He was seen at a bar a short time later, according to court records.