Cops: Man Saw Bullets in Rifle, Fired At Friend Anyway

A Sunday morning gathering among friends in Brandon ended with one man’s death and another man’s arrest.

According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, Chad Martin Stall, 21, of Valrico was hanging out at Kadin Thomas Koehler’s Kingwood Loop home around 8:22 a.m. when he picked up a loaded .762 caliber assault rifle. Stall, the sheriff’s office wrote in an email to media, pulled the trigger while aiming the assault rifle, causing a single bullet to hit Koehler.

That bullet killed the 23-year-old, the email stated.

Stall admitted to seeing bullets in the magazine and “confessed to aiming the rifle at the victim, and pulling the trigger, after seeing bullets in the magazine,” the sheriff’s office wrote.

Stall told deputies he didn’t think the rifle would fire when he pulled the trigger. Stall was charged with culpable negligence manslaughter. He was also charged with multiple counts of violation of probation in regard to previous arrests related to burglary, trafficking in stolen property, providing false information to a pawnbroker and grand theft, according to jail records.

Stall remained in the Hillsborough County Jail Monday without bond.

Chad Stall/Hillsborough County Jail