Deal set for suit in Wilton boy’s death

PHOTOGRAPHER: Stephen Williams

A financial settlement was reached Thursday in a civil lawsuit arising from the shooting death of 12-year-old Nicholas Y. Naumkin by another boy at a Wilton home in 2010.

The terms of the settlement, reached during the third day of a jury trial in state Supreme Court, were sealed by order of state Supreme Court Judge Robert Chauvin because there is an “infant” — the deceased 12-year-old — involved.

Oxsana M. Naumkin of Wilton, as administrator of her son’s estate along with her husband, Yuri, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in 2011 against Edward O’Rourke, who owned the gun involved. The shooting occurred in O’Rourke’s home.

Because of the court order, O’Rourke’s attorney, Paul Briggs of Schenectady, said he couldn’t provide any details of the settlement.

In what Chauvin, in a pre-trial ruling, termed “an extremely unfortunate loss of life,” Naumkin was shot to death three days before Christmas by O’Rourke’s 12-year-old son, who was a friend of Naumkin’s. The Gazette is not publishing the boy’s name.

The Naumkin family did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

In separate earlier proceedings, the boy faced a charge in Family Court and in 2011 admitted what happened. He was ordered to serve two years of probation and receive mental health counseling.

O’Rourke faced a misdemeanor criminal charge and pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child in 2012 in Saratoga Springs City Court. He agreed to forfeit his handgun and all other firearms, along with his handgun license, but he served no jail time.

During the earlier court proceedings, O’Rourke admitted he left his 9 mm Ruger handgun and ammunition where his son could retrieve them on Dec. 22, 2010. They were under clothing in bedroom dresser drawers, though the gun and ammunition were in different drawers.

The two boys, seventh-graders at Maple Avenue Middle School in Saratoga Springs, were alone that afternoon in the Wilton home. According to testimony at this week’s trial and in earlier proceedings, the boys were playing combat video games when the O’Rourke child decided to show his friend his father’s gun.

The gun discharged and Naumkin was hit in the face. He died at Albany Medical Center that night.

In the wrongful death suit, the Naumkin estate contended O’Rourke was irresponsible in leaving his handgun where it could be found and used, rather than keeping it in a locked box.