Explorer Scout, 19, Killed in Pistol-Tossing Accident

Terry Hugus, 19, an Explorer Scout whose ambition was to be a law enforcement officer, was fatally wounded when he tossed a pistol to a fellow Explorer and the gun accidentally went off, Los Angeles County sheriff’s investigators said Wednesday.

Although the shooting Tuesday night was listed as accidental, the case is still under investigation, a sheriff’s spokesman said.

Deputy Mason Kenny said Hugus and his friend David Sanches, 20, of Corona had been at a Sheriff’s Department Explorer Post meeting in the City of Industry and went to the younger man’s home in Hacienda Heights.

There, according to Kenny, the two were “practicing police techniques for searching a location for a burglar” shortly after 10 p.m.

“Hugus threw Sanches a fully loaded handgun,” Kenny said. “As Sanches caught it, the gun went off, striking him (Hugus) in the upper chest near the heart.”

Hugus was rushed to Queen of the Valley Hospital in West Covina, where he died at 10:30 p.m.

Sanches was not held, according to Deputy Merlin Poppleton. He would not comment on who owned the gun or on any other details of the shooting.

Hugus, a member of the sheriff’s Explorer unit for three years, was a freshman at California State University, Fullerton.

Kenny said the Explorer meeting Tuesday had nothing to do with training in burglary search techniques, but was devoted entirely to planning an outing to Yosemite. He said Explorer Scouts are not issued firearms by the department.

A university spokesman said Hugus had taken one class in criminal justice, an academic rather than a training course, and had done well.

“He was a real nice guy,” said Steven Vaili, 14, who lives near the Hugus home on Regaldo Street in Hacienda Heights. “He told my mom he wanted to be a policeman.”