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Friends speak out about Tim Reeves, homicide suspects

Tim Reeves, 18, who was fatally shot in July. Two witnesses present at the camping trip during which Reeves, of Pullman, was shot described what transpired that morning during a preliminary hearing Thursday in Latah County Magistrate Court. (Facebook courtesy)
By Taylor Nadauld Moscow-Pullman Daily News
Tim Reeves, 18, who was fatally shot in July. Two witnesses present at the camping trip during which Reeves, of Pullman, was shot described what transpired that morning during a preliminary hearing Thursday in Latah County Magistrate Court. (Facebook courtesy)

Pullman High School students and staff were still struggling to make sense of the Monday death of former PHS student and shooting victim Tim Reeves, whose body was found Wednesday in a wooded area east of Troy.

“He was my best friend,” Nancy Brown, 17, said Friday morning from the steps outside PHS, where the Pullman School District had organized a crisis response team to provide counseling to students and staff.

Her mother, teary-eyed, spoke with Pullman High School Principal Erik Heinz at the doors. Nancy Brown and her twin sister, Jordyn Brown, said they had known Reeves for three years, and the person suspected of killing him, Keagan Tennant, since third grade. Nancy said Keagan Tennant was her friend and “was a really good guy, until this all happened.”

“(Keagan Tennant) was pretty much just always keeping to himself. I couldn’t believe he could’ve done anything like this,” Jordyn Brown said.

Keagan Tennant is the adopted son of Pullman police Cmdr. Chris Tennant. The sisters said they knew less about the other person wanted in connection to the homicide, Matthew McKetta.

Matthew McKetta is also adopted, according to Charles McKetta, who said Matthew McKetta has lived with him for most of his teenage life.

“We’re just heartbroken for the Reeves family,” Charles McKetta told the Daily News. “We’re scared for the safety of everyone involved.”

Counselors gathered in the high school’s Counseling Center on Friday morning and stayed into the afternoon to provide services.

Superintendent Bob Maxwell said just a couple of students had shown up for counseling services that morning. The district has been on summer break for more than a month.

Jordyn Brown found out the news of her friend’s death through a text. Nancy Brown heard from her sister on Facebook.

“I was really shocked,” Nancy Brown said. “It felt like it was a dream. It didn’t feel like it was true until I just kept reading it over and over … it just put me in a world of hurt and devastation.”

The sisters attended a vigil with others Thursday evening at Conservation Park in Pullman, where community members wrote messages on balloons and released them into the sky.

“He was a really good guy,” Nancy Brown said. “He made a huge and positive impact on our school and was always there when a friend needed a friend.”