A Yakima, Washington, man was arraigned Monday on charges of manslaughter following the shooting death of a Weston man Saturday at a campground outside Troy.

Benjamin Paul Harrell, 40, appeared before Wallowa County Judge Phillip Mendiguren via closed-circuit video teleconference. Harrell was incarcerated at Umatilla County Jail, while Mendiguren was at the Union County Courthouse and Wallowa County District Attorney Dan Ousley was at the Wallowa County Courthouse.

Harrell was formally charged with manslaughter, a class A felony, in the death of Robert Eugene Mills, 26, of Weston. Mills was shot Saturday at a campground in the Grizz Flat area outside of Troy where both Mills and Harrell apparently were staying, according to Wallowa County Sheriff Fred Steen.

Mendiguren set bail at $250,000 after some discussion with Ousley over the defendant’s right to a hearing over his potential release under Oregon’s Measure 11 statutes governing cases with severe criminal charges pending. When the matter of Harrell’s release was mentioned, he asked to address the court.

“I am not a flight risk; I didn’t leave the scene,” Harrell said. “I am absolutely confident that, when the facts come to light, I will be exonerated.”

Mendiguren then cut him off, advising him not to speak about the facts of the case until he had an attorney present. Earlier, Harrell stated he would hire a defense attorney rather than have the public defender appointed to his case. He was not required to enter a plea at the hearing.

No date had been set for a preliminary hearing or grand jury as of Monday.

Harrell had been booked into Umatilla County Jail on charges of murder, two counts of first-degree assault, menacing and first-degree criminal mischief. Ousley declined to comment on why the murder charge apparently had been amended to manslaughter during the arraignment but noted that additional charges could be pending. No other charges besides manslaughter were mentioned at the arraignment.

Harrell was arrested at the scene of the shooting at a campground outside Troy Saturday, according to the Wallowa County Sheriff’s Office. A 911 call was made at 5:40 p.m. and an ambulance for a gunshot victim was requested.

A local paramedic responded to the scene and provided first aid assistance to Mills prior to the arrival of Enterprise Ambulance, officials said. The Wallowa County Sheriff’s Office and Oregon State Police responded to the scene, but because of snowy conditions it took about an hour and a half for police and medical responders to arrive, Steen said.

The first-aid responder contacted Wallowa County dispatch and requested a Med Star Air Ambulance, officials said. Once the Med Star helicopter arrived, Mills was flown directly to St. Mary Medical Center in Walla Walla, Wash. He died there from his gunshot wound.

The sheriff said that he had no information that Mills or Harrell knew each other prior to the shooting incident. He wouldn’t elaborate on whether there had been a dispute between the two of them that Saturday afternoon, but said it was “possible” that there had been.

He declined to elaborate on how Mills had been shot or the circumstances of what happened.

Steen said he had no information as to whether Harrell was camping at the site in preparation for the Wenaha Muzzleloader Rendezvous that traditionally takes place at the Grizz Flat campground the last Sunday of each month.

The case is being investigated by the Wallowa County Sheriff’s Office, the Oregon State Major Crimes Team, Walla Walla Police Department and Walla Walla County Coroner’s Office. Steen said they were continuing their on-site investigation.

District Attorney-elect Mona K. Williams sat in on the video arraignment in the courtroom. Ousley declined to comment on how the case might be handed off to Williams if the case were not resolved by the time she took office in January, as would likely happen. Williams said it was too soon to know how that issue would be handled procedurally.