On the late morning of May 19, 2023, 59-year-old Steven Edward Hague went out to a fifth-wheel camper on his rural property north of Gillette along Midland Road. Fire and rescue crews arrived around 11 a.m. to find Hague lying outside the trailer, gravely wounded by a gunshot; he was pronounced dead at the scene after life-saving efforts.

Inside the burning camper firefighters found a second body, later identified as 56-year-old Patrick M. Mahoney, who rented the camper space from Hague and also worked for him. Investigators determined a .308-caliber bullet entered Hague’s upper left shoulder and tracked downward into his heart and aorta. Examination of bullet trajectories and the scene led authorities to conclude Mahoney shot Hague and then fatally shot himself inside the trailer; specialized arson investigators were also called in to examine the blaze.

Deputies recovered multiple firearms and said Hague did not appear armed when the confrontation began. Officials reported no indication of a third party or ongoing danger. Toxicology and fire-cause testing were ordered; the deaths were described as a murder-suicide. If anyone knew either man or has information about what happened on Midland Road that morning, please share it.