Follow Up: Boy Scouts Seek to Avoid Liability for Death of an 11-year-old at a Hawaii Shooting Range

More details have recently emerged in the death of an 11-year-old boy scout who was accidentally shot and killed on August 28, 2022 while sitting in a chair at a boy scout shooting range in Hawaii.  According to court filings and new reporting, the boy scout, 11-year-old Manny Carvalho, was shot in the head and killed at the range by a bullet fired from an AK-47 that an unidentified man had brought to the range.

The range is owned and operated by the local boy scout troop. In court filings, the Boy Scouts of America admits only that Manny died Aug. 28, 2022, “due to a gunshot while attending a Boy Scout … Family Fun Day at Camp Honokāia.”  The local prosecutor deferred prosecution to the state Attorney General  because some members of his staff were present at the camp when the incident occurred and might be witnesses.

Eighteen firearms and various ammunition belonging to three different men were recovered at the camp following Manny’s death. Apparently, one of the guns was the AK-47 which fired the round that struck and killed Manny. Hawai‘i Police Department detectives have concluded that an unsupervised male minor picked up the loaded AK-47 firearm and that as he placed it back down, it discharged, accidentally shooting Manny.

The Boy Scouts are claiming that they bear no responsibility for the accident.

Source:

“Boy Scouts of America Ask Court to Dismiss Wrongful Death Lawsuit of 11-year-old on Big Island,” Big Island Now (March 2, 2023).