A former Festus High School student, Zackary DePung, 17, was shot at his home in the Northwoods subdivision in Festus on Saturday evening (Aug. 12) and died the next morning at an area hospital, said Festus Police Chief Tim Lewis.
He said DePung and another 17-year-old Festus man reportedly found a loaded handgun in one of the Festus parks and then took it to DePung’s home in the 1900 block of Iditarod Trail, where they began “playing with it and pulling the trigger.”
At about 6:45 p.m. Saturday, while the two young men were handling the gun, it discharged and struck DePung, Lewis said.
He said DePung was taken by helicopter to Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, where he was pronounced dead at 2:55 a.m. Sunday (Aug. 13).
Lewis said Monday (Aug. 14) that the case was still under investigation.
“We have leads to follow, and then we will take the reports and all the evidence and sit down with the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney and see what avenue to take,” Lewis said.
Link Luttrell, the superintendent for the Festus R-6 School District, said DePung attended schools in the district from the time he entered kindergarten until January 2017, when he withdrew. At that time, DePung and his family indicated he would be homeschooled.
DePung played football at Festus High in the past, Luttrell said.
He said Festus High will bring in extra counselors to talk to students who may be struggling to cope with DePung’s death.
“Thursday (Aug. 17) is our first day back, and we plan to have some (extra) counselors present for any student who would want to talk about it,” Luttrell said.