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• Braiden McCahren made his first court appearance Thursday after being charged as an adult with first-degree murder. Authorities allege he shot his friend, Dalton Williams, with a semi-automatic shotgun on Tuesday after an apparent argument that involved a third boy at McCahren's home. All three boys were 16.
• About two dozen people sat in the courtroom as McCahren, the son of a well-known local attorney, appeared through a video link from the county jail. Circuit Judge John Brown told the teen his rights and explained the charge against him. His attorney did not ask for bond.
• The judge told him he could try to move the case to juvenile court. McCahren's lawyer, Brad Schreiber, said it was too early to say whether he would make the request.
• McCahren would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole if convicted of first-degree murder in adult court. If the case is moved to juvenile court, the state could only hold him until he turns 21.
• He will enter a formal plea at a later hearing.
• Williams' funeral is scheduled for Saturday at Faith Lutheran Church, where the Rev. Brad Urbach said Williams' family was devastated and not ready to talk publicly about the shooting.
• "They're leaning on each other, trying to derive strength from one another. When one of them is having a time of being really down, it seems like they're able to pick each other up," said Urbach, who will preside at the funeral,
• Area residents have heavy hearts, he said, particularly since the shooting happened in the week before Christmas and so soon after the Connecticut elementary school shooting that killed 20 children and six educators.
• The slain boy's family said he had a big heart, the pastor said.
• "Dalton, by everything I'm hearing from others and the family, was a very caring and loving son, very respectful, a good brother and a good grandson," Urbach said.
• Slayings are rare in South Dakota -- just 21 murders and non-negligent homicides were reported in 2011 by the FBI -- and rarer still in Pierre. The city of 13,860 last had a slaying in 2010, when a woman shot her husband and later pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
• "Here in the small city of Pierre, I'm a little surprised it happened," said longtime Pierre resident Rosanne Summerside, who lives near two of the boys' families.
• "I know the whole community and the kids are of mixed emotions, confused about what they should be feeling and doing," said Summerside, who has a 17-year-old son. "Everybody I talk to is just stunned it happened."
• The third teen, described by police as a witness, told detectives that he and

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