MOUNT VERNON — The teen hunter who fatally shot a hiker on Sauk Mountain last month stood in front of a judge Wednesday and uttered a quiet “not guilty” in Skagit County Superior Court. His father stood beside him, arm wrapped around his son’s waist.
The 14-year-old Concrete High School student is charged as a juvenile with first-degree manslaughter in the Aug. 2 shooting death of 54-year-old Pamela Almli of Oso while he was bear-hunting with his 16-year-old brother on Sauk Mountain.
Skagit County Superior Court Judge Michael Rickert told the teen he could face a maximum of juvenile detention until his 21st birthday and a fine of up to $50,000. His trial was set for Sept. 27.
Friends and family members of both the victim and the teen hunter filled rows in the courthouse. The Skagit Valley Herald does not typically publish the names of juvenile defendants.
Prosecutor Rich Weyrich has said he charged the teen because the boy acted recklessly when he fired his rifle across a trail that switchbacks along the south side of Sauk Mountain. The bullet struck Almli as she was stopped on the trail with a friend, putting her jacket into a backpack.
The teen hunters’ grandfather drove them to the mountain and waited in the car. The affidavit says that when they arrived the fog was heavy, so they didn’t expect to hunt.
But their plans changed when the younger brother saw something move down the mountain. Each boy had a rifle.
Both looked through their scopes. The younger boy then told his brother: “It’s a bear, it’s a bear,” court documents say. “I’ve got my crosshairs on it.”
His brother confirmed and told him to shoot, the documents said.
The 14-year-old pulled the trigger, sending a .270-caliber bullet from his Tikka rifle. Almli was shot in the head. Her friend, thinking they were under fire, jumped off the trail and slid down the mountain, the documents say.
“This is a very, very difficult time for everyone,” the teen’s attorney, Roy Howson of Mount Vernon, said after the hearing.
Howson said the boy is in counseling, attending high school classes and trying to keep some amount of normalcy in his life, but is devastated by the shooting.
He is a good student and a “popular kid” with an interest in nearly every sport, his attorney said.
“He isn’t a kid that you’d expect to be negligent, let alone reckless,” Howson said.
Weyrich said after the hearing that his office has never claimed the teen intentionally did anything wrong, but that the teen did break the law by pulling the trigger without knowing where his bullet would strike.
“You can be negligent or reckless by driving an automobile and not be a bad person,” Weyrich said.
Howson said the teen’s reaction to the legal situation since the shooting has been “what you would expect. Sometimes he’s struggling with the next word, and the next minute he’s acting like a typical teen.”
Tahlia Ganser can be reached at 360-416-2148 or
