RICH COUNTY, Utah, Sept. 24, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — A 14-year-old boy was shot and killed by a target shooter in rural Utah Sunday afternoon.
According to a statement by the Rich County Sheriff’s Office, the teen was in the backseat of a vehicle driven by his father in the Monte Cristo range about 3 p.m. when he was “struck in the head by a bullet fired at a target several hundred feet” away.
Law enforcement and emergency personnel were dispatched to the scene, but the 14-year-old had already passed away.
Family members have identified the victim as Zachary Kempke. A fund to help pay for his funeral, the Zachary Kempke Memorial Fund, has been set up at the America First Credit Union.
Investigators say the individual who fired the deadly shot “did not know there was a road down range and could not see the vehicle as it traveled on the road due to thick brush and trees.”
Detectives from several agencies worked past dark on Sunday and for several hours on Monday to reconstruct the scene.
The Rich County Sheriff’s Office say all the evidence processed so far indicates the shooting was unintentional.
Once the investigation is complete the findings will be turned over to the Rich County District Attorneys Office Prosecutor for further screening.
Gephardt Daily will update this story as more information becomes available.
