Her stray bullet killed a passing teen. Now she’ll teach gun safety, Utah judge rules

Firing at targets pinned to cardboard boxes in the Utah woods with her family that September day, Kayleen Richins didn’t realize a road ran behind their impromptu shooting range, The Gephardt Daily reported.

Then one of her bullets hit Zackary Kempke in the head as the Ogden 14-year-old rode in a Jeep with his own family on a trip to see the fall leaves, KSTU reported. He died instantly.

On Wednesday, a judge ordered Richins, 40, who had been charged with negligent homicide in the Sept. 23 death, to teach gun safety classes and appear in a safety video in lieu of jail time, The Deseret News reported.

“You’re going to tell them what you did and how they can make sure it never happens,” Judge Thomas Willmore told Richins, reported The Salt Lake Tribune. “And you’re going to tell them about a 14-year-old boy who lost his life.”

Prosecutors did not seek jail time for Richins because of her obvious remorse, The Deseret News reported.

“You can just look at her and she physically shakes when she speaks with you,” prosecutor Benjamin Willoughby said, according to the publication.

In court Wednesday, Richins said she had hoped to apologize personally to the Kempke family, which did not attend the hearing, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. The family had been split on whether Richins should serve time in jail.

“Words cannot begin to express the hurt,” Richins said, according to the publication. “I hold myself responsible for taking such a sweet, innocent boy from this world.”

Zackary’s family had set out Sept. 23 for the Monte Cristo range to take photos of the fall colors to send to his older brother, who was in Oregon on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, McClatchy previously reported.

Then a window shattered and a stray bullet fired by Richins at the targets nearby hit Zackary as he sat in the back seat with his younger sister, McClatchy reported.

While prosecutors determined Richins could not have seen the road, she and her family had failed to investigate beyond the trees behind their targets before opening fire, prompting the negligent homicide charge, The Gephardt Daily reported.

The Deseret News reported that Richins pleaded guilty to the charge, which carries a sentence of up to one year in jail.

Willmore said Wednesday he had considered sentencing her to 14 days in jail - one for each year of Zackary’s life, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. Instead, he sentenced Richins to two years of probation, pay a $2,500 fine and perform 480 hours of community service.

She must spend 300 of those hours working with a hunting or gun safety group to create a video on safe shooting, and the remaining 180 hours speaking to youth groups on guns safety, according to the publication. Willmore spoke of a man convicted in another case whom he said had sought redemption with a similar sentence.

“That’s what you’re going to do,” Willmore told Richins, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.