Boy's charges dropped in Bremerton school shooting
»Play Video
PORT ORCHARD, Wash. -- The 10-year-old boy who brought to school a gun that permanently injured his classmate will now get a fresh start.
A Kitsap County judge on Thursday dismissed the charges against the boy in the incident that occurred exactly one year ago from Friday.
That's when investigators said the boy brought a gun to Armin Jahr Elementary School in his backpack. The gun went off, hitting Amina Kocer-Bowman. The girl, who was 8 years old at the time, was critically wounded and spent several weeks in the hospital.
The victim and her parents were not present on court on Thursday. The family had no comment about the judge's decision.
The boy himself addressed the court before learning the judge's decision.
"I would say thank you to everyone for helping me and sorry, very sorry for Amina's family," he said.
The judge praised the boy for completing all the court's orders, including writing an apology letter to the shooting victim, attending counseling sessions, and even possibly testifying against his own mother and her boyfriend. It had been his mother's boyfriend's who had loaded gun the boy grabbed, hid in his backpack, and took to school, according to investigators.
"I'm very pleased to sign (the) order to dismiss charges," said Kitsap County Superior Court Judge Steve Dixon. "(I am) optimistic I won't see you back here."
The boy's cousin also spoke on his behalf in court.
"He's a good kid (who was) just in the wrong place, wrong time, and he's learning and doing a lot better. And I know he ain't going to get in any more trouble," said the boy's cousin.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Bowman family says Amina is still psychologically traumatized, and a bullet remains lodged near her spine. She is continuing her education at a private school.
The boy has applied to return to Kitsap County public schools, according to his attorney.
"I think that we did the best that we could possibly do for a 9-year-old boy. And he has expressed his sincere apology for what happened," said attorney Eric John Makus. "Life's not fair -- the world's not fair, But we do the best we can."
Both the boy's mother and her boyfriend have pleaded guilty to reduced charges related to this case, and both are awaiting sentencing.
A Kitsap County judge on Thursday dismissed the charges against the boy in the incident that occurred exactly one year ago from Friday.
That's when investigators said the boy brought a gun to Armin Jahr Elementary School in his backpack. The gun went off, hitting Amina Kocer-Bowman. The girl, who was 8 years old at the time, was critically wounded and spent several weeks in the hospital.
The victim and her parents were not present on court on Thursday. The family had no comment about the judge's decision.
The boy himself addressed the court before learning the judge's decision.
"I would say thank you to everyone for helping me and sorry, very sorry for Amina's family," he said.
The judge praised the boy for completing all the court's orders, including writing an apology letter to the shooting victim, attending counseling sessions, and even possibly testifying against his own mother and her boyfriend. It had been his mother's boyfriend's who had loaded gun the boy grabbed, hid in his backpack, and took to school, according to investigators.
"I'm very pleased to sign (the) order to dismiss charges," said Kitsap County Superior Court Judge Steve Dixon. "(I am) optimistic I won't see you back here."
The boy's cousin also spoke on his behalf in court.
"He's a good kid (who was) just in the wrong place, wrong time, and he's learning and doing a lot better. And I know he ain't going to get in any more trouble," said the boy's cousin.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Bowman family says Amina is still psychologically traumatized, and a bullet remains lodged near her spine. She is continuing her education at a private school.
The boy has applied to return to Kitsap County public schools, according to his attorney.
"I think that we did the best that we could possibly do for a 9-year-old boy. And he has expressed his sincere apology for what happened," said attorney Eric John Makus. "Life's not fair -- the world's not fair, But we do the best we can."
Both the boy's mother and her boyfriend have pleaded guilty to reduced charges related to this case, and both are awaiting sentencing.
I think that this is the best solution for everyone. People don't need to be worrying about one scared kid, probably not even in puberty yet, who never meant to hurt anyone. They need to focus on the reckless parents who left guns laying around when they weren't even supposed to have them there. They are the true people at fault for this incident.
He's a young boy, 10 ---- never should have been charges in the first place. The parents a different story!
So she gets a life sentence and he gets nothing?  Unbelievable.Â
@citizen kane It's his parents' fault in this case, and he never had any intention of hurting her (the gun went off from within his backpack). Also, he HAS been punished. The process has taken several months, but for juveniles and for first-time offenders, that's usually the case when circumstances warrant it. As they do in this instance. True justice is often hard to achieve, but for a ten year old boy, they did the best they could, while still acknowledging what Amina went through. And the boys parents await sentencing for their role in this incident, for which they are primarily responsible, as they are the ones who had guns laying around the house when they weren't supposed to have them there at all.
@citizen kane HE IS TEN YEARS OLD YOU MORON! His parents are responsible!
" It had been his mother's boyfriend's who had loaded gun the boy grabbed, hid in his backpack, and took to school "
I hope the boy gets a better education than the reporter that wrote this incoherent sentence...
You can't hide from the internet, anyone who searches his name in the future will read all about it.Â
I'm glad to hear that the boy finished all the court orders. Sounds like he learned his lesson. Now hopefully the mother and her boyfriend learn theirs.
@Tattooed_Angel Unlikely. I read in a previous story they were felons, and shouldnt have had a gun in the first place.
Ergo - they already had a chance to learn their lesson, and proved incapable of doing so.
Hopefully the media will stay on this story and we'll hear that the mother and boyfriend will indeed be held responsible at sentencing.
Although I don't like the sound of "reduced charges", at least they pleaded guilty and saved us from spending tax dollars on their pitiful defense.
I hope he also learned that guns never solved any problems!!
@Carol B I dispute that statement. Having talked to numerous gun owners, I could relate several incidents in which their having a gun actually acted as a deterrent to stop a problem from getting any worse, without even having to be drawn. Just a bit of food for thought: More people are killed in this country with BASEBALL bats than with guns. A properly secured weapon in the possession of a mature and responsible adult is no threat to anyone except someone who would threaten that person and their family and home.
@spacegoddess @Carol B Technically incorrect.
More people are killed in this country with Bats than with ASSAULT RIFLES.
Im totally pro-gun, but just clarifying ;)
@Carol B That is a factually incorrect statement. They have solved MANY problems; a friend of mine is alive today only because a neighbor with one intervened on her behalf at the right time.Â
If you meant to say they have not solved many problems for kids in the schoolyard without making more, bigger problems, then I'd agree.
That was the right thing to do. Now as long as the parents are held responsible that should be enough.
I really hope this boy understands that only the lucky ones get a second chance in life, and there is never a third chance.Â
@Just my say Unless you're a criminal. Then you get chance after chance after chance because "You're a good kid" and "Turning your life around".