Deschutes DA brings no charges in WWII tank blast that killed two

Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel said Friday he’s determined no crime was committed in last fall’s deadly explosion inside a World War II-era military tank east of Bend that killed two Oregon City men.

“I like to wrap up these cases knowing what happened, even if my knowledge leads me to charge someone or not charge someone,” Hummel told NewsChnnel 21. :Having some definitiveness is helpful for everyone involved. In this case, we don’t know what happened — and unfortunately, I don’t think we ever will.”

Steven Todd Preston, 51, and Austin Tyler Lee. 22, died last Oct. 27 as a result of a massive explosion in a 1944 M-18 Hellcat military tank.

The Flying Heritage Collection museum in Everett, Washington commissioned a team to obtain slow-motion footage of the Hellcat tank firing projectiles from its main cannon into steel targets, consistent with the material used in the construction of WW II tanks. The footage was to be used for a display kiosk at the museum.

According to the museum’s military aviation curator, the operation was funded by the museum under the umbrella company Vulcan Productions. The founder and chairman of Vulcan Productions is Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft.

Preston and Lee were inside the turret of the tank.

“They loaded a cartridge into the main cannon of the tank, they pulled the ignition device and there was an explosion inside the tank that killed them both,” Hummel said.

The explosion blew the breech block back into the tank. Lee died from blunt force trauma. Preston died from concussive injuries.

The DA said the investigation into these horrific deaths was led by the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office. The goal of investigators was to determine the reason for the explosion.

“We were looking at whether the person who packed the ammunition, the person who packed the canister acted negligently, meaning, did he add too much black powder?” Hummel said.

The tank was owned by Preston, who hired Terrebonne resident Charles Gilbert Hegele, 67, a munitions professional, to prepare the projectiles for the shoot.

Numerous experts in the field of military tanks, military ammunition and metallurgy (including the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia), were consulted in an effort to ascertain whether the explosion was a tragic accident, or whether it was the result of criminally negligent conduct.

“The experts told us a lot of opinions about what possibly happened, what could have happened, what maybe happened, but ‘possibly,’ ‘could have,’ ‘maybe’ is not enough for a criminal case. We need to be certain about what happened,” Hummel said.

He said despite all of their efforts, the cause of this incident is unknown. As one of the experts who worked on this case said: “There are numerous scenarios and multiple possible causes. Which of these could have been the primary cause may never be known.”

In his statement, Hummel said, “Steven Preston and Austin Lee died pursuing one of their passions. Local law enforcement had them in our minds as we conducted one of the most thorough and professional local investigations in recent memory.

“We followed the evidence where it led, and at the end of the day, we do not know the cause of this explosion. We strive to provide answers to families of victims – unfortunately, we’re sometimes unable to do so. This is one of those times.”