Logan McClelland: Did he have to shoot Big O worker Bradley Blehm during parking lot spat?

Logan McClelland.

This week, we've been following eighteen-year-old Logan McClelland's arrest for first-degree murder of a Big O Tire employee later identified as Bradley Blehm.

Now, the El Paso Sheriff's Office has released an arrest affidavit in which McClelland claims he "had to" shoot Blehm as he argued with the teen's father -- although he later accuses his dad of trying to throw him under the bus.

The Logan McClelland arrest affidavit begins with a summary by Detective Cliff Porter, assigned to the EPSO's investigation division. He notes that on the afternoon of Monday, August 9, he learned about a shooting at a Big O Tires outlet in Monument, a town already dealing with a high-profile murder case: Monique Lynch is accused of brutalizing Genesis Sims, age nine, and possibly burying her alive in the crawlspace of a local home.

Blehm had been shot seven times in the chest, and the younger McClelland was soon loaded into an unmarked police car. During the twenty-thirty minute trip to the El Paso County Sheriff's Office Law Enforcement Bureau, Porter writes, McClelland began to talk about the incident. Porter says he didn't solicit the conversation -- but he did turn on a cell phone recorder. He also says he Mirandized McClelland, who waived his right to silence.

From Channel 31 coverage.

McClelland says he and his father went to the store to fix a tire, then headed back to their vehicle, at which time Blehm followed them, "flipped us off" and "said something" before striking his father inside the vehicle. According to the affidavit, McClelland's father removed a gun from the glove compartment, but Logan took the weapon and fired it at the victim, who he suspected of having a knife. Blehm was unarmed.

The story morphed later, with McClelland adding details (the "something" Blehm allegedly said was to call his father a "motherfucker") and altering others (this time, the gun was removed from a backpack). According to the affidavit, he said Blehm was shot seven times because he "wouldn't go down."

More versions, more shifts: In subsequent tellings recapped in the document, McClelland is quoted as admitting that Blehm's hands were weapon-free, but he "thought that the victim's bravery meant that he must be armed."

What about McClelland's father? The document notes that he was "heard stating that you can't go shooting people given the situation," and attempted to aid the victim after his son shot him down.

That's followed by this concluding, and telling, passage:

Mr. McClelland was told at the hospital that his father's story and his did not match concerning the gun. Mr. McClelland yelled, "He's a liar." Mr. McClelland said that his father was "trying to cover his own ass."

Sounds like a good idea under the circumstances. Look below to see a Channel 31 report about the shooting: