HELENA, Mont. – A Hill County man has been charged with deliberate homicide in connection with the deadly shooting of William Bernard Hobbins on the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation in 2019, according to Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen.

The Attorney General’s Office reported that in September 2019, an officer with the Rocky Boy Police Department (RBPD) was on duty when he heard gunshots, leading him to discover William Hobbins on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds.

Investigators learned from multiple witnesses that 35-year-old James Richard Michael Lowrance of Hill County had been with Hobbins prior to the shooting. Lowrance told investigators that he had left a party with Hobbins, who eventually jumped out of Lowrance’s car and threatened to hit him with a rock if he didn’t leave.

Lowrance claimed that he left Hobbins in the road, however, investigators later searched Lowrance’s car and discovered a receipt for .357 Magnum ammunition, as well as a fired cartridge casing that matched four other casings at the scene.

According to the Attorney General’s Office, investigators eventually determined that all five of the casings recovered were fired from the same gun. Lowrance denied murdering Hobbins during an interview in October 2019, but admitted to buying the ammunition in Great Falls.

Years later, in March 2026, a man was interviewed by the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation and claimed that he sold Lowrance a Taurus .357 revolver 12 days before the shooting.

Utilizing the evidence collected over years of investigative efforts by the Montana Department of Justice, FBI, RBPD and Hill County Sheriff's Office, Assistant Attorney General Thorin Geist is leading the prosecution of Lowrance’s case.