WHEATLAND, Wyo. — Tears filled Suzette Conant's eyes as she reached from her wheelchair to hug people after Friday's funeral service for her three young sons and their uncle, who were fatally shot last week in Wheatland.
Scores of people from this grieving Wyoming farm community came together at the First Christian Church for services for 11-year-old Joseph, 13-year-old Charles, 18-year-old Everett and their uncle Nacuma Roland Conant, 33.
Authorities have charged Everett E. Conant III, 35, with killing his sons and adult brother, Nacuma. He's also charged with attempted murder in the wounding of Suzette Conant, his wife. Police said she was shot in the ankle and upper arm, and she was treated and released from a Cheyenne hospital early in the week.
The shootings rocked Wheatland, a town of about 3,500 people.
"We don't have a lot of answers, we really do not," said Pastor Andy Gudahl during the funeral service. He said the Conant family, as well as the Wheatland community, are left to start over.
"We want to hold the high standard of caring and loving as Wheatland has in the past," Gudahl said.
Katrina Nix organized a community barbeque last weekend to help Suzette Conant with medical and funeral expenses. Speaking after the funeral, she said about 300 people had attended the barbeque and called the event a huge success.
"Our community really pulled together," Nix said. She said she had hugged Suzette Conant after the funeral, but didn't have a chance to talk to her.
Everett Conant III is being held without bail, and the case is on hold while he undergoes a mental evaluation to determine whether he's competent to stand trial.
Wheatland Police Chief Randy Chesser has said his department was still working on its investigative report. Police haven't released any information about a possible motive in the shootings. Gunfire erupted in the family's mobile home in the early evening, leaving many bullet holes visible in the exterior walls.
Gudahl and Pastor Ken Grant of the Memorial Baptist Church in Wheatland took turns describing the Conant boys and their uncle.
Gudahl said Nacuma Conant was "developmentally challenged," but said that never kept him from living life to the fullest. Gudahl said his nephews were Nacuma's closest but not his only friends.
Grant said young Everett was known as "B.J.," which he said stood for "Butch Junior." Grant said the young man had an exuberance that was hard to contain and was a dedicated baseball fan.
"Fishing, swimming, four-wheeling, running, camping and the Special Olympics were right where he wanted to be," Grant said of young Everett.
Gudahl said Charles was interested in architecture and design and took time to analyze and process information. "Charles was grown up enough that he wanted affection, but he sure didn't want anybody to know it," he said.
Grant said Joseph kept working at making friends until he would succeed. "Joey delighted in animals," he said. "As a very young boy, he was able to ride his grandma's dog."
Joseph and Everett Conant were Special Olympics teammates in basketball and track and field who liked to root for each other, their coach Stephanie Nelson has said. She said the boys were well known in town and had many friends. Many students held a candlelight vigil at Wheatland High School last week, where Everett was a student.
The Conants moved to Wheatland about seven years ago, officials have said.
Court records show Everett Conant III had worked as a security officer for a private company in Chatsworth, Calif., in the late 1990s and had held a firearms permit in that state. A spokeswoman at the company said this week there was no one there who remembered him.
Conant had worked briefly at the Wyoming Premium Farms hog farm just north of Wheatland this spring but quit after mentioning problems arranging child care, the general manager said last week.
Ross Gorman, director of Gorman Funeral Home-Platte Chapel, said the boys and their uncle have been cremated. He said Nacuma Conant's remains would be sent to California. He said no decision has been made about where the brothers' remains will go.