Video: Bear-hunting teen kills hiker on popular trail

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ROCKPORT, Wash. – A 14-year-old boy shot and killed a hiker on Sauk Mountain in Skagit County Saturdray morning. He allegedly thought the woman was a bear.

The teen was with his 16-year-old brother, not an adult as previously reported, the Skagit County sheriff's office says.

An investigation determined that the boys' grandfather dropped them off in the Sauk Mountain area near Rockport on Saturday morning but was not with them when the shooting occurred, Chief Deputy Will Reichardt said Monday.

The two teens, from Concrete, were on a ledge overlooking the popular Sauk Mountain trail when the hiker, 54-year-old Pamela Almli of Oso in Snohomish County, who was wearing a bright blue poncho, stopped to put something into her backpack.

Pam, who was hiking with a friend, was about 120 yards away from the boys and in a meadow when she was shot.

According to Pam's hiking partner, it had started drizzling. Pam had just put on the rain poncho when the shot rang out.

The area where Pam was shot is wide open with no trees around.

"How do you confuse a woman with a bear?" asked William Almli, Pam's husband.

"I don't know how she could get shot here," said Gail Blacker, Almli's sister. "This is so wide open."

Karin Czulik / KING5.com

Sauk Mountain has gorgeous views of the Skagit Valley and is very popular with hikers.

Family members said Pam was an avid hiker.

"She lived to be out there," her Blacker, "You couldn't keep her in. She'd go in the snow, rain - it didn't matter… She just had a heart of gold, she loved people, she loved animals, and she just wanted to help people."

As the family returned to the scene Monday, they made a shocking discovery: A tooth - likely Pam's - lying in the dirt.

Both boys are licensed to hunt bears. The 14-year-old has been hunting for five years.

Bear hunting season opened Saturday for the entire Sauk Mountain area, including trails popular with hikers. The season goes through the end of the year.

The young hunter and his 16-year-old companion broke no laws by hunting in the area and there is no minimum age for hunting in Washington, but Saturday's shooting has some people thinking twice about hiking in areas shared with hunters.

Skagit County prosecutors were meeting with sheriff's investigators to decide whether to file any charges in the case.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.