Left: Haegan Sagers (Duchesne County Sheriff”s Office). Right: Malaki Porter (GoFundMe).
The mother of a Utah boy shot to death by his stepbrother said the admitted killer was raised in a home that valued gun safety.
Haegan Sagers, 17, was sentenced to two to 15 years in juvenile detention and prison on July 15, months after he fatally shot his 14-year-old stepbrother Malaki Porter. Sagers, who was 16 years old at the time of the September 2024 shooting, pleaded guilty to manslaughter after he was originally charged as an adult with murder.
According to courtroom reporting by local NBC affiliate KSL at the sentencing, Porter’s mother, Stormi Hass, said that both her son and stepson were raised to understand the importance of gun safety.
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Hass reportedly told the court that Sagers “had no qualms about pulling the trigger and stated he wanted to harm Malaki, knowing the repercussions of what firearms can inflict on another.”
KSL reported that Hass was the live-in girlfriend of Sagers’ father, and Porter lived with the blended family. Hass said in court, “[N]ot only did I lose one child that day, I lost both of my boys that day.” Still, she wanted Sagers to experience the consequences of his actions.
According to KSL’s reporting, prosecutors did not believe Porter’s killing was premeditated. However, they presented evidence by investigators that Sagers had expressed a desire to harm and even kill Porter in the time leading up to the fatal shooting on Sept. 22, 2024. Prosecutors said the then-16-year-old boy had “a predilection toward violent problem-solving.”
Sagers’ story also changed as investigators interviewed him following the shooting. First, Sagers told detectives that Porter came at him with the gun and it went off accidentally during a struggle. Then he said that he had taken the gun from Porter, and believing that the younger boy was going to harm him, Sagers stood back and pointed the gun at Porter’s left shoulder. He claimed that he had intended to hurt him, but not kill him.
In court, Sagers apologized for killing Porter, saying, “If I could say anything to Malaki, it would be how sorry I am, and how we should have talked through our problems. Although he and I had our issues, he was a great friend and the best little brother you could ask for. I am very sorry.”
