He was Native American. They were friends. It was also an election year. That was more than 20 years ago. The death was a horrible tragedy.
Nothing changes that.
The first one to tell you that fact would be the one holding the gun. There was no motivation, no intent, no maliciousness, just a tragic accident involving immature, reckless behavior. The youth attempted to escape to find someone to help him. He went back. The system gave him a release date, the system took it away.