A 19-year-old man who shot and killed a mechanic last year during a confrontation in the parking lot of a Monument tire store was found guilty Friday of reckless manslaughter.

Logan McClelland, of the Park County town of Como, had been charged with first-degree murder in the Aug. 9, 2010, killing of Big O Tire employee Bradley Blehm. The jury deliberated for about eight hours after the trial wrapped up around noon Thursday.

McClelland faces two to six years in prison when he is sentenced on Aug. 17. He could get up to 12 years in prison if the judge determines there are aggravating circumstances.

Blehm, 50, died after being shot seven times outside the tire store at 650 Highway 105.

According to investigators, McClelland, his father and a younger brother were at the tire store getting a flat on their truck fixed when they heard Blehm swearing.

The father, Tom McClelland, reported Blehm to his boss, setting off a confrontation that resulted in Blehm’s death.

Blehm, who El Paso County Sheriff’s Office detectives said had been drinking that morning, was told to go home by his boss, but was still in the parking lot when the McClellands attempted to leave.

With a bottle of Tuaca liqueur in his back pocket, Blehm confronted Tom McClelland as he drove toward the exit in a Dodge Ram pickup, detectives said. Logan McClelland and his 15-year-old brother, Luke, were passengers in the truck.

Testifying during the three-week trial, Tom McClelland said Blehm reached into the truck and knocked his glasses off while attempting to open the door and threatening to kill him.

Logan McClelland told detectives he grabbed his father’s .45-caliber pistol to defend his father, who suffers from high blood pressure. Logan McClelland got out of the truck and opened fire without warning, prosecutors told the jury.

“Seven shots, and every one found its mark,” prosecutor Jeffrey Albright said during the trial.

Blehm, who was unarmed, was shot in the chin, chest, shoulder, arm, hand and twice in the back, prosecutors said. He died on the asphalt as Monument police officers came running from the police station less than 100 yards away.

Defense attorney Jenny Cox countered that McClelland made a “split-second decision,” thinking that his father was in mortal danger during the tug of war with the drunk Blehm to open the truck door.

“Logan can see he’s losing the battle to get the door open,” Cox said in her opening statement. “Every single one of those shots … was in defense of his dad.”

Under Colorado law, fatal shootings are justified when an attack is “imminent” and likely to result in serious injury or death.

Logan McClelland, 18 Photo by

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