New charges will be filed against a man accused of shooting another Great Bend man in the west part of Great Bend on the night of March 10, 2020, Barton County Attorney Levi Morris said.

Ismael Montelongo Jr. was booked into the Barton County Detention Center on Saturday on charges of attempted second-degree murder and aggravated battery. The charges stemmed from the night Richard Fletcher Jr. was shot in the abdomen during a confrontation between people in two northbound vehicles at the intersection of 10th Street and Patton Road in Great Bend.

At the time, Montelongo was charged with attempted murder or an alternative charge of aggravated battery, but the case was dismissed on Sept. 14, 2020, at the request of Morris. The case was dismissed “without prejudice,” which means the State had the option to re-file charges at a later date.

That is what has happened now, Morris said, as the State is ready to move forward with the case.

At the time of the incident, Great Bend Police Department officers were dispatched to the 5600 block of 10th St. to check on a reported shooting. They located Fletcher in a parking lot; he was transported to the Great Bend hospital and later flown to Wichita with critical injuries. Police identified Montelongo and another person of interest, Noah Holden, who was later charged with hiding Montelongo in Albert along with and a 17-year-old male who was also booked as a suspect in the shooting.

The next day, GBPD officers and detectives received a tip and found all three suspects at a residence in the 1500 block of Hubbard Street, where they were arrested without incident. The vehicle they were reportedly seen in at the time of the shooting was located in an abandoned structure.

The younger man was adjudicated as a juvenile offender and on Dec. 21, 2021, his case was dismissed without prejudice. Fletcher was one of the individuals who received a subpoena to testify on his behalf in a trial originally set for Jan. 11-14, 2022.

On the charge of obstruction by harboring or concealing the other suspects, Noah Holden, also known as Noah Tillery, is scheduled for a diversion/review hearing at 12:45 p.m. Jan. 27 via Zoom.

Morris said the case against Montelongo was dismissed last year when the juvenile was implicated as the possible shooter. When that case was resolved, the path was clear to reinstate the charges against Montelongo.