Boy, 12, Faces Trial in Fatal Shooting of His Best Friend

The Orange County district attorney’s office has decided to prosecute a 12-year-old boy who fatally shot his best friend last month while the two played.

Prosecutors believe that the boy was criminally negligent on June 25 when he pointed a .22-caliber pistol at 13-year-old Adam LaFortune and fired one shot at point-blank range, Deputy Dist. Atty. Kathy Harper said.

Adam, of Buena Park, died two days later at Los Alamitos Medical Center from the bullet wound in his forehead.

Harper said she filed a charge of involuntary manslaughter on Tuesday and sent a letter to his parents, instructing them to appear with their son on Aug. 7 at Orange County Juvenile Court in Santa Ana.

If convicted, the boy could face four years in the custody of the California Youth Authority, Harper said. Probation for the boy, who just graduated from Holder Elementary School, is also a possibility.

The boy was allowed to remain in his parents’ care at his home, located in a quiet, middle-class neighborhood, until the court appearance, Harper said.

Paula LaFortune, mother of the slain boy, declined comment. The defendant’s parents were unavailable for comment.

Prosecutors and police said the charge was filed after a three-week investigation suggested that the boy was knowledgeable about handling firearms.

The investigation, conducted by the La Palma Police Department, included lengthy interviews with the boy and his parents, authorities said. The parents reportedly told detectives that he had been schooled by his parents in gun safety and had previously handled the weapon but had not fired it.

“He just didn’t check to see if the gun was loaded,” Harper said, “and he pointed the gun at another human being and pulled the trigger. That was a duty of care that he owed another human.”

In initial interviews, police said, the boy told investigators that he did not know that there were any bullets in the gun, which was owned by the victim’s mother.

Paula LaFortune had asked the boy’s father to take the gun for safekeeping a year before her son was killed, La Palma Police Commander Vince Giampa said. “That makes it doubly tragic.”

Giampa, who at first considered the fatal shooting to be accidental, said he had expected the charge to be filed after evidence was uncovered that suggested negligence.

“It certainly is no surprise to me,” Giampa said, adding that he was satisfied with the district attorney’s decision.

“We felt that with the knowledge that he did have, he certainly should have known not to point the weapon at anyone unless he intended to kill,” Giampa said.

Adam was spending the night at the boy’s house when the shooting occurred, police said. The two had known each other since 1983 and had been close friends for years, Nichole LaFortune said in an earlier interview.

Adam was playing a video game in an upstairs bedroom at about 9:30 p.m. when the younger boy went into the master bedroom, took the loaded pistol from a shelf and approached his friend.

As Adam turned around, the boy pointed the gun and fired, police said.

The boy’s mother, who was downstairs, rushed upstairs and wrapped a towel around Adam’s head and held it there until paramedics and police arrived.

Giampa, who initially was told by the parents they they kept the gun unloaded, declined to say if police now believe that the boy put the bullets in the gun.

The shooting is one of four such incidents in the county involving a juvenile that has occurred in the past three months, and one of six since September. Four of them have resulted in fatalities.

On May 24, a 17-year-old Anaheim Hills boy shot and killed Christian Wiedepuhl while the two friends were examining a pistol. Since that unidentified boy had fatally shot another friend four years ago, the district attorney’s office was asked to review that evidence.

The case is still pending, Harper said.

Richard Hubler, 14, of Anaheim is suspected of fatally shooting his 12-year-old sister with a rifle on June 14. He has been charged with murder.

Most recently, on July 18, a 5-year-old boy wounded his 11-year-old brother and a 10-year-old family friend when he fired a gun at them. The bullet from the .38-caliber pistol passed through one victim and struck the other. That incident has been ruled an accident, police said.