Ashton Mann pleaded guilty to manslaughter after his friend, Dylan Lee Treichel, was killed when a gun went off in a Kearns garage.
The incident began with a boast that Treichel could move quickly enough to avoid a live bullet, similar to what he had seen in movies. In the early morning hours of Feb. 2, 2025, that claim was made while the men were handling real firearms. Police found Treichel on the floor of a Kearns home with a gunshot wound to his chest, according to charging documents.
Before the shooting, the men had used marijuana and played video games, then moved into the garage with firearms. The unusual setup gave way to a fatal result, and Mann’s account of what happened became part of the court record.
Charging documents say Mann held the gun sideways and was not aiming at a target when the round fired. He said he was so stunned afterward that he kept cycling the weapon. That detail makes the case more than a story about an impossible movie trick. It describes a moment of unsafe firearm handling that ended in a death.
The court process continued for about a year and a half before Mann entered his guilty plea. The plea resolved the manslaughter charge, but it did not determine the punishment. Sentencing is set for January, according to the source.
Why It Matters
This case matters because it shows how quickly a casual decision around a firearm can become a permanent loss and a criminal proceeding. The setting described in the source was a garage, not a movie scene, and the claim involved a real weapon rather than a special effect. The people most directly affected are the two friends and their families, but the case also highlights the danger of treating firearms as props during recreation. The gun did not need to be aimed at a person for the consequences to be devastating.
The guilty plea also changes the focus of the story. The central issue is no longer whether the bullet-dodging claim was possible, but what responsibility follows from handling the weapon in the way described by charging documents. The source does not give a final sentence, so the legal outcome remains incomplete. That open question matters to Treichel’s loved ones and to Mann, while the known facts already show how a brief act can carry consequences that last far beyond the moment itself.
Mann will face sentencing in January. Until then, the plea marks the latest development in a case that began with a claim borrowed from movies and ended with a friend dead.
Source: notthebee.com
