A hunter who walked away after shooting a teen watching the sunset is charged with homicide
- A 52-year-old hunter was charged with homicide on Wednesday, two months after he shot and killed a teenager who was watching the sunset with his girlfriend at a state park in Pennsylvania, prosecutors said.
- Prosecutors identified Kenneth Troy Heller as the hunter who shot the teen.
- Heller has agreed to be held without bail and is set to enter into a plea agreement at his arraignment in April, the district attorney said.
A hunter in Pennsylvania who prosecutors said walked away after shooting a teenager in a state park in October has been charged with homicide.
The teenager, Jason Kutt, 18, was sitting in his car with his girlfriend at Nockamixon State Park when he was shot - they were waiting to watch the sunset, Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Kutt's girlfriend heard the shot and saw Kutt fall. She told investigators that when she looked down the road, she saw a hunter in orange gear looking in their direction, but the hunter fled.
Eight weeks later, prosecutors identified Kenneth Troy Heller, 52, as the shooter. Weintraub said he was charged with criminal homicide, recklessly endangering another person, possession of an instrument of crime, possession of a brass knuckle dagger, and two hunting-law violations, including failing to render aid to an injured person.
Heller surrendered to the police and agreed to be held without bail, Weintraub said. He added that Heller had reached a preliminary plea deal with prosecutors, in consultation with Kutt's family, that would be formalized during his arraignment in April.
Weintraub said the plea deal would allow Kutt's family to move on from their son's death and "celebrate his life," as cases like these can drag on for years in the criminal-justice system.
"By making an agreement today, we get to avoid all of that," Weintraub said.
"Jason's family gets to know exactly what happened to him," he added. "They will not like it, but they can have some finality in the knowledge of what happened to Jason."
Weintraub said it wasn't the "perfect ending" to the case - that would be if Kutt, a 2020 graduate of a local high school, were alive again.
"I do not believe that it was Mr. Heller's intent to shoot to kill Jason Kutt," Weintraub said. "He never knew the man. They had no animus. This wasn't a 'Hey, I'm going to try it out and see what's it's like to be a killer' moment for Mr. Heller. He has expressed remorse."
Weintraub said that, while he didn't want to prejudge the case, he was comfortable that the charges were appropriate for Heller's conduct.
"He is a hunter. He hit what he aimed at. And he made an awful, awful mistake," Weintraub said.