A civil lawsuit filed by the family of an 11-year-old Boy Scout killed in 2023 by a rifle bullet at Camp Honokaia near Honokaa has been settled.
Hilo attorney Kris LaGuire, who represents the family of the victim, Manuel “Manny” Carvalho, confirmed Thursday parties in the lawsuit have reached an agreement. According to LaGuire, who declined to comment further, terms of the out-of-court settlement are confidential.
“The case was resolved and dismissed by agreement, and we will honor the agreement by not discussing this case any further,” said Lincoln Ashida, a Hilo attorney representing the Boy Scouts of America.
LaGuire filed the wrongful death civil suit in January 2023 in Hilo Circuit Court on behalf of David G. Carvalho Sr. and Michele Ann Carvalho, Manny Carvalho’s parents, plus the boy’s four adult siblings and an older sister who’s still a minor.
The suit accused the Boy Scouts of America and the Boy Scouts of America Aloha Council of gross negligence, including nonadherence to Boy Scouts of America safety standards, plus the shooting of firearms other than the types allowed by the BSA rules governing its shooting ranges.
Manny Carvalho, an 11-year-old sixth-grader at Waiakea Intermediate School and member of Hilo Boy Scout Troop 19, was killed Aug. 28, 2022, during what was described in the complaint as a “Troop Shoot” and “Family Fun Day” at the Boy Scouts’ Camp Honokaia near Honokaa.
Carvalho, who was seated behind the firing line of one of the camp’s ranges, was shot in the back of the head. According to the Hawaii Police Department, the gunshot that killed the youngster occurred when an “unsupervised” boy picked up an AK-47 semi-automatic rifle, which discharged when he put it back down on a table.
According to the lawsuit, the Boy Scouts Shooting Sports Manual limits the types of rifles allowed on camp ranges to only “.22 caliber breech-loading, single-shot or a repeater type bolt-action rifles with a box-style magazine.” The manual also disapproves of the use of “human form and zombie silhouette targets,” both of which allegedly were present at the Camp Honokaia range.
The Carvalhos’ attorneys filed documents during the case that contained a Boy Scouts “executive packet” dated July 12, 2022 — about a month-and-a-half before Manny Carvalho’s death — that expressed concern the organizations’ standard operating procedures weren’t being followed at Boy Scout shooting ranges, causing “several shooting sports-related incidents and near misses.”
There have been no arrests or criminal charges filed in connection with Carvalho’s death, but police in September 2022 forwarded the investigation of 23 potential firearms-related offenses stemming from the incident to the county prosecutor’s office for review.
Police said at the time that one of the 23 possible charges is for criminally negligent storage of a firearm.
The potential charges are against three men who were at the scene of the incident, and have been identified as the registered owners of multiple firearms. In total, 18 firearms and various types of ammunition were confiscated by police.
Capt. Rio-Amon Wilkins of the East Hawaii Criminal Investigation Division said at the time all the charges under review for potential filing are misdemeanors, punishable by up to a year in jail upon conviction.
The statute of limitations for misdemeanors in Hawaii is two years from the time of an incident for the authorities to file related charges.
Police said they conducted extensive interviews with the adults and minors present at the rifle range.
The shooting is believed to be accidental, and police do not suspect foul play in the death of Carvalho who, according to an autopsy, died as a result of a single gunshot wound.
The firearm that was discharged is owned by the father of the minor who picked it up. Police have said no criminal charges are being contemplated against the minor.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.