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KAMAS — A criminal case against a Summit County teenager accused of shooting and killing his younger brother has been dismissed.
On June 3, 2020, Cash Cover, 11, was shot and killed at his family's home in what the Summit County Sheriff's Office originally called a "tragic accident." Cash and his older brother, then 14, were outside their house with their mother when they were given permission "to access a BB gun to shoot on the property," according to a statement from the sheriff's office shortly after the incident.
"At some point, the two boys entered the home and accessed a handgun — not a BB gun — from a bedroom. Shortly after, the mother heard screaming coming from inside the home. When she entered the home, she discovered Cash had a gunshot wound," the sheriff's office said.
Despite announcing initially it was an accident, the sheriff's office still had questions about how the gun went off and detectives continued to investigate the shooting. In a series of search warrants filed in 2020, investigators noted that when they talked to the older brother, he "provided inconsistent statements on how the shooting occurred."
The older brother was then reinterviewed by police on June 23, 2020.
"(He) told law enforcement that on the day of the shooting, he decided to get a gun to scare (Cash). He retrieved the gun from his parents' bedroom and went to his bedroom to wait for (Cash) to come into the home. When (Cash) came around the corner, he told (him), 'Look.' He aimed the gun at (Cash) and pressed the trigger down. The gun then went off and a bullet struck (Cash), killing him," according to juvenile court charging documents.
In 2021, more than a year after the shooting death, the older brother was charged in 3rd District Juvenile Court with manslaughter, a second-degree felony.
But on Dec. 15, an order was issued by 3rd District Juvenile Court Judge Elizabeth Knight that simply states, "Pursuant to the motion filed herein, and good cause appearing thereto, it is ordered that this case be dismissed without prejudice."
The order does not indicate why the case was dismissed. The motion requesting dismissal is not public record in juvenile court, according to a spokeswoman for the Utah State Courts. The Summit County Attorney's Office did not immediately return KSL.com's requests for comment.
Dismissing a case without prejudice means prosecutors have the option of refiling charges in the future.
KSL.com has opted not to name the older brother, now 16, at this time.
