sportsman channel host killed

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SPORTSMAN
CHANNEL
HOST KILLED
104
A northwestern Montana man
shot and killed the host of the
Sportsman Channel show
"A Rifleman's Journal"
in an apparent jealous rage.
By Matt Volz
Associated Press
HELENA, Mont.- A northwestern Montana man shot
and killed the host of the Sportsman Channel show "A
Rifleman's Journal" in an apparent jealous rage while
the TV personality was visiting the shooter's wife, police said Friday.
Wayne Bengston, 41, then beat his wife, took his 2year-old son to a relative's house and drove to his
home about 25 miles away in West Glacier, where he
killed himself, Whitefish Police Chief Bill Dial said.
"It's pretty much an open-and-closed case. Homicide and suicide," Dial said.
Police identified the shooting victim as Gregory G.
ADVENTURE SPORTS OUTDOORS “THE VOICE OF THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN”
Rodriguez, 43, of Sugar Land, Texas. Bengston's wife
told police that Rodriguez was in town on business and
visiting her at her mother's house in Whitefish when
her husband showed up Thursday March 21st, at about
10:30 p.m.
Rodriguez and the woman, who works for a firearms
manufacturer in the Flathead Valley, met at a trade
show and struck up a casual relationship that police do
not believe was romantic, Dial said.
She and Rodriguez were sitting at the kitchen table,
talking over a glass of wine, when Bengston entered
the house and shot Rodriguez, Dial said.
He then beat his wife on the face and head, most likely
with the pistol, he said. She was treated at a hospital
and released.
"I think it was a jealous husband, but this is all conjecture," Dial said.
After the shooting was reported, Flathead County
sheriff's deputies found Bengston's truck parked in
his driveway. Efforts by a police SWAT team to contact
Bengston inside the house were unsuccessful, and officers found his body with what appeared to be a selfinflicted gunshot wound to the head, police said.
Besides appearing on TV, Rodriguez was the
founder and CEO of Global Adventure Outfitters. According to the company's website, he was an editor at
Shooting Times Magazine and a contributing editor at
Petersen's Hunting, Guns & Ammo and Dangerous
April 2013
Game.
Greg Rodriguez pictured here with
He was a
a huge warthog he took in the CAR.
mortgage
banker before
founding Global
Adventure Outfitters and has
hunted in 21
countries, the
website says.
"A Rifleman's
Journal" tracks
Ro driguez's
hunting travels
to exotic locations, according
to a Sportsman
Channel description.
He has a wife
and two children, it says.
A woman who answered the phone at Global AdvenBengston worked for the U.S. Forest Service, Dial
ture Outfitters confirmed that Rodriguez had been in
said.
Montana but said the organization would not be makLearn more about Greg Rodriguez at: www.rifleing a statement at the time.
mantv.com
NEW YORK OFFICER HONORED FOR
CATCHING DEER POACHERS
Deer were shot from inside a house when the animals came to a
video-monitored bait pile in the yard.
ALBANY, NY- A New York conservation officer is being honored for catching two men who had been shooting
deer from inside a house when the animals came to a video-monitored bait pile in the yard, then selling the meat
at an annual feast.
The Department of Environmental Conservation says in a release Monday that Officer Rick Wood caught the
men with a packet of flyers advertising a “fourth annual” $70-per-person venison dinner in the Bronx. A search
of their weekend home in the Sullivan County town of Ellenville turned up five dead deer and freezers filled with
320 pounds of venison.
The men, whose names weren't released, paid $8,000 in fines in February 2012.
The National Wild Turkey Federation selected Wood for its 2012 Annual Law Enforcement Achievement Award
for his work.
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