14-year-old Justin Butler
Posted on 11/10/2009 10:03:50 AM PST by JoeProBono
Investigators, neighbors, friends and family of 14-year-old Justin Butler are trying to make sense of the tragic events which took his life. Adding another layer of heartbreak for his family, Monday night, Crook County Sheriff deputies arrested Justin's cousin, 21-year-old Brandon Hornseth.
"Everybody's in shock, you know and he's such a young man, I mean these things happen in town, they don't happen out here," says Meloni Platt, who lives down the road from the Butler Ranch.
Justin was found dead in an RV early Sunday morning, with a gunshot wound to the head. He was on an elk hunt with his family, on their private ranch on Northwest Lone Pine Road in Terrebonne. His family told sheriff deputies they heard gunshots just after 3 am. When they turned on the lights, they found the bullets had entered the motorhome, hitting and killing Justin. On Monday the Sheriff's office says it found two spent rounds from a semi-automatic rifle near the scene. That lead deputies to search Hornseth's car, where they found an SKS rifle. Hornseth, who works for the ranch, has been charged with manslaughter, reckless endangering and pointing a firearm at another. Investigators are still looking into a motive. Justin was a freshman at Culver High School. His middle school health teacher, John Spinelli, says Justin always could make the other kids laugh.
"He was a great kid, great sense of humor, good student had a lot of friends, always got along with everybody, very respectful, just the kid you'd love to have a class full of kids like that," Spinelli says.
News of the incident has left many at the small school in disbelief.
"Especially the 7th and 8th grade teachers who've had him for two years are definitely taking it hard; tough night and it's a big loss for our school," says Spinelli.
A crisis counciling team will be avalible Tuesday morning for students at Culver High School.
14-year-old Justin Butler
My mom’s bully neighbor takes his 14 year old granddaughter hunting!
What seems to have happened here was not that a 14 year old was taken on a hunt (which you seem to indicate is a bad thing), but that the 21 year old failed to follow the rules of guns. He fired in such a way that a motorhome was hit, and the 14 year old (in the motorhome) was killed by the gun fire.
Is it normal to hunt elk at 3am? I don’t know anything about elk hunting.
It was emphasized by the author and the poster, as well. And yes, I think it is a bad thing.
2) Never let your muzzle cover anything you aren't willing to destroy. (VIOLATION!!!)
3) Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target. (Need more evidence, but probable violation.)
4) Know your target, and what lies beyond it. (VIOLATION!!!)
It never fails ...I have yet to see a so-called "accidental" shooting in which all four rules were obeyed.
The article says the kid was shot at 3am. Is it normal to hunt elk at 3am?
Shooting in the dark, at 0300 has much to do with the violations of rules 3 and 4.
I understand that. But I thought most hunt during daylight hours when you can see your target. I thought maybe elk were different.
No ... elk are hunted during daylight. There’s really no excuse for this negligent shooting.
Thanks. I know people that hunt deer and bear. Don’t know any elk hunters. Thanks again.
21-year-old Brandon Hornseth, was a cousin of the victim and an employee of the ranch. I assume, but am not sure, he was also a member of the hunting party. I have heard alcohol was involved. My guess is the shooter was on a late night bender and stupidly playing with his gun. He should have been sleeping. Legal shooting hours for hunting this time of year do not start till about 7 AM. And 14 is not too young to go hunting at all. The number 1 rule of hunting is gun safety. The number 2 rule of hunting is gun safety.
what you are failing to realize is that all meat comes from kroger...
No it isn’t a bad thing. Gun accidents happen when people aren’t taught about them. The younger someone is when being taught, the better. Do you teach people to read, write or speak at age 20? Gun rules should be drilled in heads at a young age. 100 years ago kids knew how to handle guns. Now people have been programmed to be scared of them. THAT’S when accidents happen.
I went hunting with my family well before I was 14. When I was too young to carry a rifle I just went along to get out into nature. My dad taught me to respect firearms and I would have dreamed of messing around with them in an unsafe manner. btw, it is illegal to hunt after dark. So, this shooting was either poaching, murder, or random recklessness. Regardless, it had nothing what so ever to do with hunting.
Correction: would NEVER have dreamed of messing around with guns in an unsafe manner.
What on earth are you babbling about?
Back on topic, it sounds like the adult cousin was plinking with his SKS instead of sleeping with the rest of the family.
Multiple violations of the rules of gun safety resulting in tragedy. When will people learn.
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