Funeral services were held Tuesday for 14-year-old Ashley Tucker who died of a rifle shot Thursday near Wiley Creek.
Tucker’s mother, Kim, said her daughter was “very special, very caring about everybody.”
The teenager enjoyed helping special education students when she attended Hawthorne Elementary School and had just completed the eighth grade at the Sweet Home Christian School held at the Assembly of God church.
“She loved little kids,” her mother said. “She had planned to help with Bible school this summer. She loved school.”
Tucker’s favorite class was history and she enjoyed playing volleyball and singing.
The Tucker family had gone to visit friends who in the 44000 block of Wiley Creek on Thursday. The group had walked quite a ways into Wiley Creek for an afternoon of swimming and had taken along a .22 calibre rifle.
“Ray Couch was showing the kids about rifle safety and how to target shoot,” Kim Tucker explained. “Since my boys don’t have a dad living at home, I like to have them be able to do guy things.”
The incident occurred as the group was walking back to the main road from the swimming hole and target shooting area.
Tucker’s brothers, Scott, 15, and Kyle, 12, were walking near a 16-year-old boy who had accompanied the group.
Scott said the teenager had found a .22 calibre rifle shell near the creek. Ray Couch had told him to dispose of it but the teen didn’t and reportedly put it in his pocket.
A short time later, the teenager was holding the rifle when the shot was fired. The bullet struck Ashley Tucker in the chest.
Kim Tucker was walking behind the children when she heard Ashley yell, “Ow!”
“I thought she had seen a snake,” she said. “I ran to her and saw her lying on the ground with a hole in her chest. I grabbed her hand and told her to not die.”
The teen who had the rifle dropped it to the ground, witnesses said, and joined the boys as they ran for help.
Roy Couch and Kim Tucker stayed with Ashley. The incident occurred about 6:30 p.m.
The Linn County Sheriff’s Department has not released the name of the boy involved in the shooting but Kim Tucker said he had been in the Sweet Home area from the East Coast for about a month.
A fund has been established to help the family defray funeral expenses. Checks should be made in care of Edna Tucker, Ashley’s grandmother, Sweet Home Branch, Key Bank, Box 487, Sweet Home, Ore. 97386. Donations can also be made at the bank at 1199 10th Ave., Sweet Home.
Ashley N. Tucker
Nov. 17, 1987-June 13, 2002
Ashley Noel Tucker, 14, died on June 13 near Sweet Home in the Wiley Creek area of an apparent accidental gunshot wound.
She was born on Nov. 17, 1987 in Livermore, Calif., the daughter of Robert A. Chimenti and Kim Michelle Tucker.
At the age of four, she moved with her family to Prineville where she lived until 1996 when she moved to Sweet Home. She was in the eighth grade at Sweet Home Christian School.
Ms. Tucker’s hobbies included playing volleyball, singing and taking care of her niece and nephews.
She is survived by her mother, Kim Michelle Tucker of Sweet Home; maternal grandmother, Edna Tucker of Sweet Home; paternal grandparents, Bud and Evon Chimenti of Livermore, Calif.; sister, Nicole McPherson of Sweet Home; brothers, Scott and Kyle Tucker of Sweet Home; uncle, Steve Tucker of California; two nephews; and a niece.
Funeral services were held at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the River of Life Fellowship Church. Interment followed in Gilliland Cemetery. Officiating were pastor Dan Helland of Sweet Home Assembly of God and Gary Hooley of River of Life Fellowship.
A special memorial fund in Ashley’s name has been set up for contributions at Key Bank in Sweet Home.
Services were under the direction of the Workman & Steckly Funeral Chapel.