15-year-old shot dead as teens played video games on snow day, Washington police say
A 15-year-old boy was fatally shot after a group of friends gathered to play video games on a snow day in Washington, police said.
Authorities responded to a shooting at about 4:45 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22, to a home in Reardan, the police department said in a news conference live-streamed by the Lincoln County Record-Times.
A group of friends had met up to play video games after Reardan-Edwall School District called off school that day due to snow, Reardan Police Chief Andy Manke said in the news conference.
The teens ranged in ages from 14 to 17 years old, Manke said, and no adults were home at the time of the shooting.
At one point, one teen, who didn’t live in the home, pulled out a handgun, he said.
“Somehow, during those kids’ interaction, the handgun went off, and we haven’t determined how yet or the circumstances behind that,” Manke said.
A 15-year-old boy was struck by a bullet, he said. An officer got to the home within a couple of minutes and performed CPR, but the boy died, Manke said.
The teen was identified by police as Shadrach Hall-Turner.
Manke called the shooting a “tragedy” because all five boys were friends.
“There was no animosity. It wasn’t a crime of hate or of violence,” he said.
The 16-year-old accused in the shooting has been arrested and booked into jail on charges of first-degree manslaughter and unlawful possession of handgun, police said.
The school district said there were no “immediate threats” to the school. It delayed the school start time by two hours on Thursday, Feb. 23, and made attendance optional, according to an email Superintendent Eric Sobotta sent to families and students.
“Our hearts are genuinely with the student’s family, and with all in the school and community we share,” Sobotta said in the email. “As fellow community members, we are called now — more perhaps than ever — to come together to support the family and all the students and families in our school district.”
Reardan is about 25 miles west of Spokane.
This story was originally published February 23, 2023 at 4:11 PM with the headline "15-year-old shot dead as teens played video games on snow day, Washington police say."
