Anchorage Daily News

A teenager who killed his best friend in a play act of military bravado was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison.

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Dustin Colgrove

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In handing down the sentence, three state Superior Court judges agreed Scott Bombard, now 19, was an immature 16-year-old who tragically got caught in a storm of neglectful parents, alcohol and guns.

It was an unusual sentence, below the statutory minimum, because it was an unusual case.

The boys were inseparable, broken apart forever by a pull of a trigger. One was left dead, leaving behind a family that can't get over its hurt. The other one was left alive but haunted by the horror of shooting his best friend in the head.

"No one won today," said prosecutor Alan Goodwin, after the court proceeding.

In March, Bombard made a deal with the state to plead to manslaughter. In the time since 17-year-old Dustin Colgrove's death, Bombard has turned his life around from being the lost, immature boy he was at the time of the homicide to becoming a serious, focused adult intent on education.

The sentence went before a three-judge panel because an earlier judge thought leniency might be in order. The judges said they didn't think giving the teen a lengthy sentence would serve him or society well. His rehabilitation, a path he is already on, would be better outside prison.

Judge Stephanie Joannides also said she hoped the case would deter parents who supply their children with alcohol, or who turn a blind eye to teenage drinking. She also looked at Bombard, sitting in his yellow prison uniform, and told him that she hoped he would never hold a gun again for the rest of his life.

DRINKING BEER

In 2006, Bombard and Colgrove were regular East High Anchorage kids. Bombard bagged groceries after school at Carrs. Colgrove worked at McDonald's. They went to class together, hung out on the weekends and shared the same dream of being Marines one day.

But while Colgrove had a stable, tight-knit family, Bombard was saddled with an absentee dad and a single mom who spiraled downward with alcohol and crack, according to court records and testimony. The previous judge called her an "absolutely horrible parent."

She fed into Bombard's fascination with the soldier life by supplying him with guns and ammo, which he kept in his room with a military-style cot and camouflage curtains. He sometimes drifted into a make-believe soldier world, including pointing guns at his friends' heads several times before he shot Colgrove.

On the night of March 24, 2006, Bombard's mother bought her son, Colgrove and another boy an 18-pack of Budweiser, which they were allowed to drink as long as they stayed in the Muldoon home.

As the teens listened to music and hung out in Bombard's bedroom, his mother watched a movie in her own.

Bombard's blood alcohol content would later register at .09, which is above the legal limit for an adult to drive. Forensic psychiatrist David Sperbeck testified Wednesday that the alcohol reduced the teen's maturity and judgment to that of a 8 year old.

Bombard didn't check the .44-caliber Magnum's chamber. He started playing with it. He thought the only bullet was in his pocket.

"I shot my friend in the head," Bombard says on the 911 tape, recorded immediately after the shooting.

"How did that happen?" the operator says.

"My best friend in the world and I shot him in the head. Send an officer over here. I know I'm going to jail. I was supposed to be a Marine. I'm going to jail. ... Send a medic. He's still alive. He's still breathing. Please. Just send him now! I need an ambulance now!"

NUMBING SADNESS

The Colgroves and Bombard's relatives sat on the same courtroom benches on Wednesday, but the distance between them seemed unbridgeable. No one looked victorious.

The Colgroves haven't moved on since their boy died. Father Bart Colgrove said the whole family numbs its sadness with anti-depressants. They channel energy into seeking justice for their dead son.

Bombard's family has put a protective wall around their boy. To them, he made a one-second mistake that had horrific consequences, but putting him in prison would make a criminal out of someone who is not.

In a prepared statement to the court before he was sentenced, Bombard said, "I'd do anything to have (Colgrove) back."

He said he wanted to make something of himself, to go to college and study engineering.

"To be someone he (Colgrove) would approve of."

Find Megan Holland online at adn.com/contact/mholland or call 257-4343.

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