Family mourns Riverton man killed in shooting

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Joseph Lee was arrested for allegedly shooting stepson Haven McBride in Riverton.
Family members remember McBride remembered as kind and hardworking.
A GoFundMe was established for the family.

RIVERTON — A Riverton man was arrested after allegedly shooting and killing his 18-year-old stepson in what police say may have been a reckless act, and what extended family members suspect was not an accident.

Joseph Le Page Lee, 46, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Wednesday afternoon for investigation of manslaughter.

Riverton police said officers responded to a 911 call at a home on Kessler Peak Drive just after 3 p.m. on Tuesday. A 43-year-old woman reported that her husband had just shot her son, and "it was reported that it had been an accidental discharge of a firearm," according to a police booking affidavit.

When officers arrived, they found the 18-year-old, identified by extended family members as Haven McBride, with a gunshot wound to the head.

Lee was seen performing CPR. McBride was transported to Riverton Hospital by Unified Fire Department paramedics, where he was pronounced dead, according to the affidavit.

According to investigators, Lee told police he had been teaching his daughter how to use and operate firearms in the family's living room and had two Glock 19X pistols — one of which he considered a "dummy" training gun.

"Joseph stated that what he considered a dummy gun is the handgun they were going to use for training but is fully operable and can fire live ammunition. Joseph explained that he cleared the dummy gun ensuring it was safe and placed to his right side," detectives stated in the affidavit.

However, as he was teaching his daughter, Lee said he must have grabbed the "non dummy gun which was loaded."

"He racked the slide and pulled the trigger. The round evidently struck the victim in the head who was sitting on the couch directly across from Joseph," the affidavit stated.

Video footage captured inside the home shows Lee seated on the floor, the affidavit states.

"The victim had stood up from the couch which is positioned only a couple of feet in front of Joseph. The victim appears to be looking at handgun which was in Joseph's hand. As the victim goes to sit back down onto the couch, the top half of his body is bent slightly over his legs with the top of his head facing Joseph. Joseph is seen racking the slide, the firearm is near Joseph's stomach and legs when one round is fired from the handgun," according to the affidavit.

According to the affidavit, Lee waited several minutes before performing CPR.

Lee, who told police he was a former U.S. Army Green Beret, was arrested Tuesday afternoon for investigation of manslaughter.

Investigators pointed to Lee's military background as "meaning that he has had extensive training in the operation and safe handling of firearms" but "despite his training… handled his firearm in a reckless nature."

Family remembers McBride

"We love Haven, and our hearts are broken!" Haven McBride's paternal family members said in a statement to KSL-TV, describing him as a "kind, hardworking young man" who has "overcome a lot of challenges due to the choices of the adults in his life."

His aunt, Rachel Richards, said he graduated from Mountain Ridge High School with honors last week and was interested in pursuing forensics, as well as preparing to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"He followed his faith. He was looking forward to that mission," Richards said. "And he is going to be very, very, very missed."

Richards, who is the sister of Haven's father, Alexander McBride, who died in 2018, expressed concerns about the incident and questioned its accidental nature.

Family member Laura Morrison also provided the following statement to KSL-TV:

"It's with the heaviest hearts that we say goodbye to our dear. We're all struggling to imagine life without him. He was truly kind, always treating everyone with warmth. He was a hard worker, dedicated to everything he did, and incredibly patient. His faith guided him, and he was also very intelligent. As a good big brother, he was a wonderful role model, always responsible and looking out for his siblings and step-siblings. He was so sweet and thoughtful, often doing little things that made a big difference. We'll miss his goofy side, which brought so much laughter, even though he could be shy at times. He was always respectful and, most of all, incredibly selfless, consistently putting others first. We'll forever cherish our memories of him and his beautiful spirit. He'll be deeply missed, but never forgotten."

A GoFundMe* has been established by Richards to help cover funeral costs for Haven McBride.

*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited into the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.

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The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.