Family ‘numb’ as target shooter’s stray bullet kills 14-year-old in car, Utah cops say

Zackary Kempke, 14, and his family were taking photos of the fall colors in rural Utah on Sunday to send to his older brother, who’s serving a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints mission in Oregon, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

Then a bullet broke a window of the family’s Jeep, striking Zackary in the head as he rode in the vehicle with his parents and a younger sister, reported KSL-TV.

“My brother-in-law heard an explosion in the back seat and turned around and realized his son was gone,” said Cory Hopkins, the Ogden teen’s uncle, according to KSTU. Zackary died instantly.

“He didn’t even know what happened,” said Hopkins, who’s serving as the family spokesman, according to KSL-TV. “He was gone that fast.”

The fatal shot was fired from hundreds of feet away about 3:30 p.m. by the mother of a family shooting targets in the Monte Cristo range in northern Utah, reported the station.

The other family told Rich County sheriff’s officials they did not know they were firing in the direction of a road and could not see the passing Jeep through thick trees and brush, KUTV reported.

The sheriff’s office described Zackary’s death as “unintentional” but said an investigation continues, KUTV reported.

Hopkins said his family is “numb” at the loss of Zackary, whom he described as “loving” and “very family-oriented,” according to KSL-TV.

“They’re just an emotional wreck,” Hopkins said, according to KSTU. “They are blaming themselves, like, ‘why, what if we wouldn’t have gone down this road.’ ”

Zackary, a ninth-grader at North Ogden Junior High, was “the center of attention” at family gatherings, Hopkins told The Salt Lake Tribune.

“He would dance and play and was a practical joker, active in academics and in plays,” he said, according to the publication. “Just a good young man.”

Hopkins encouraged target shooters to be aware of their surroundings, reported KSTU.

“Know where that bullet is going to be when it leaves the barrel of the gun, where it’s going to end up,” Hopkins said, according to the station. “None of this would have happened if they had.”

But he also told The Salt Lake Tribune that his family “doesn’t necessarily” want to see charges filed, calling it “a tragedy on both sides.”

“There’s another victim here,” said Hopkins, according to KSL-TV. “That family is going to live with this for the rest of their life.”