October 18, 2011
By Alison Boggs, The Spokesman-Review
A 7-year-old Coeur d’Alene boy was killed Saturday night near
Harrison when his father placed a hunting rifle into a vehicle where
the boy was sitting and it went off.
Conner Bartlett, a second-grader at Skyway Elementary School,
died at the O’Gara Road fire station, near Harrison, a news release
from the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department said. Northwest
Medstar personnel had landed there to take him to the hospital, the
release said.
Conner had accompanied family members, including his father,
Robert A.
Bartlett, 36, of St. Maries, on a hunting trip to a property in
southeast Kootenai County. The shooting occurred around 7:40 p.m. in
the 4600 block of Sunset Drive, off state Highway 97.
Grief counselors for the Coeur d’Alene School District met Sunday
and were at Skyway on Monday, said Laura Rumpler, a spokeswoman.
District officials emailed parents on Sunday and sent a letter home
with students on Monday. In addition, all Skyway teachers read a
short statement to students Monday.
Substitute teachers are also on hand to fill in for Skyway
teachers, Rumpler said. “Some of the teachers are taking it very
hard.”
Conner Bartlett lived with his mother in Coeur d’Alene, a news
release from the sheriff’s office said. Rumpler said the boy had
transferred into the Coeur d’Alene School District near the end of
last year and had no siblings within the district.
“This is just a very, very tragic accident, no question about
it,” said sheriff’s Capt. Dan Soumas. An investigation is
continuing, he said. “There’s a process to be followed. That’s the
law and that’s what we do.”
