Wyoming community reacts to charges against resident

WORLAND, Wyo. (AP) – Relatives and neighbors say an 18-year-old Wyoming man accused of shooting a family that stopped to help him on a Montana roadside had been in and out of trouble, but they’re surprise at the charges leveled against him.

“Everyone in town is in total shock that a local boy is capable of something so terrible,” resident Nikki Donahue told the Casper Star-Tribune.

Worland is a north-central Wyoming town of about 5,500 residents that is best known for a Pepsi bottling plant and sugar beets.

Jesus Deniz, also known as Jesus Deniz Mendoza, is accused in the shooting deaths of Jason Shane, 41, and his wife, Tana Shane, 47.

The couple’s daughter, Jorah Shane, 26, was shot in the back while trying to run from the gunman Wednesday in the small town of Pryor on Montana’s Crow Indian Reservation. She is recovering in a Billings hospital.

Deniz has never been convicted of a crime, federal and Wyoming officials said. But in Washakie County, Wyoming, he was recently charged with marijuana possession and felony burglary.

Osvaldo Deniz, 20, of nearby Manderson, said Jesus Deniz became his cousin after being adopted by his uncle.

“He was a troubled kid,” Osvaldo Deniz told The Billings Gazette. “But I can’t believe it escalated all the way to that.”

Phillip Alcarez, a Deniz family friend, described the teen’s family as “hardworking” and “quiet.” Alcarez said he has known the family for years.

“I was surprised that something set him off,” he said.

Patty Sanchez said she had known Jesus Deniz since he came to live in the town as a boy.

“He was a nice kid when he spoke to you, I’ll say that. You didn’t know until you really hung around him. ... He’s an 18-year-old boy, not even a complete adult. His life hasn’t begun,” Sanchez said.

Deniz’s parents, especially his mother, are devastated, Sanchez said.

It’s always shocking when it comes from such a small town,” she said. “I’m worried about people’s reactions.”