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Kyle Kelly of Hampton Bays. COURTESY ADA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE.
A Hampton Bays man was arrested in Boise, Idaho, and charged in the shooting death of a Boise State University club hockey player. Kyle Kelly, 21, a student at the university at the time, faces a felony count of involuntary manslaughter, following a yearlong investigation.
According to a July 30 release from the City of Boise, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Mr. Kelly after charges were filed in the death of 22-year-old Robert Eugene Skinner.
An earlier release, dated August 23, 2019, from Boise Police, had initially reported that Mr. Skinner had suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his neck, killing him. Subsequently, however, the investigation revealed that while it appeared the gunshot was not self-inflicted, it also appeared unintentional, police said.
The incident occurred in Mr. Kelly’s off-campus apartment during the early morning hours of August 23, 2019. One of Mr. Kelly’s roommates was showing the two men his collection of guns, including, according to statements made by defense attorney Mark Manweiler published in the Idaho Press, a semiautomatic handgun and a shotgun. Mr. Manweiler, who declined to comment when queried by The Press, said his client had never handled a gun before that night, according to published reports of the initial court proceedings held via video teleconference.
A roommate demonstrated “dry-firing” the gun, meaning he was pulling the trigger of an unloaded weapon. Mr. Kelly also dry-fired the pistol. After a time, he put the gun down, sat on the bed and began checking his phone, not realizing that before the roommate left the room, he put an ammunition clip back into the pistol. When Mr. Kelly picked up the pistol later to dry-fire it again, it discharged and hit Mr. Skinner in the neck, fatally wounding him.
Prosecutor Heather Reilly told the court that Mr. Kelly had initially claimed that Mr. Skinner shot himself, but changed his story when confronted with details of the investigation, according to published reports. Emily Lowe, a public information officer for the Ada County prosecutor’s office, said her office doesn’t comment on ongoing cases.
Mr. Kelly was remanded to Ada County Jail in lieu of $150,000 bail. A family friend, who asked not to be identified, told The Press that the victim’s parents, Patricia and Robert Skinner, had just arrived in Boise that morning, expecting to visit their son. Instead, they were met at the airport by staff from the coroner’s office.
