15-year old Bradley Hulett was shot and killed in Lithia, Florida at the home of his friend, the son of a Tampa police officer. A group of four teenage boys was present at the time of the shooting. According to a subsequent news report about the investigation, some of the boys found the gun in a locked closet with the magazine removed. They did not realize that there was a round in the chamber.
“At 15 years old, Bradley stole the hearts of all who knew him with his sweet disposition, intelligence, and charisma,” according to a Facebook post made after the incident. “His passions in life were his family, friends, and basketball… A tragic accident took him from us too soon.” More than 3,000 people attended Bradley’s funeral service.
“This house used to be vibrant and alive,” Bradley’s father said. “It’s not right now, and I don’t know when it’s going to be again, or if it ever will be, and that’s scary. He was one of kindest, sweetest, most decent people you’d ever meet…”
The boy who fired the shot, 15-year old Christopher Bevan, has been charged with manslaughter and will be prosecuted as an adult. According to a news report, “Bevan said he thought the handgun was not loaded and that he did not intend to shoot Hulett.” Nevertheless, the State Attorney concluded there was sufficient evidence to demonstrate “a reckless disregard for human life.”
The officer in whose home the accident occurred was on-duty in Tampa at the time of the incident. According to a local attorney representing the officer, state law says loaded guns kept in locations where a minor could access them must be secured with a trigger lock or kept in a locked container or location “which a reasonable person would believe to be secure.” “He did everything and more than what is required” by the law, the lawyer said of the officer, though he acknowledged that the officer inadvertently left the gun loaded.
A lawyer for the family said, ““If you’re handling a firearm, you have to assume that it’s loaded and that whatever you do with that firearm could take the life of a person very easily. We’re talking about 15-year-old boys here, not 5-year-old boys.”
“It’s a tragedy because it could have been prevented,” Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Captain Preston Hollis said, adding “[a]nytime we have one of these events, unfortunately, it’s a great time to talk about gun safety and firearm safety.”
The gun apparently did not have simple safety features such as a magazine safety disconnect so that it would not fire without the magazine present or a loaded chamber indicator that might have made the boys aware that the gun was loaded.
Sources:
Tony Marrero and Jamal Thalji, “Teenager Shot in Lithia at Police Officer’s Home Identified,” Tampa Bay Times (December 14, 2019).