Approximately 48 hours after 18-year-old Jason Kutt of Sellersville was killed lakeside at Nockamixon State Park, authorities in Bucks County said they need the public’s help as they work to figure out who shot him, and why.
Two days after an 18-year-old man was shot and killed at Nockamixon State Park, authorities announced at a news conference that they have no suspects in the case and aren’t even sure yet whether a crime was committed.
Jason Kutt of Sellersville was at the park with his girlfriend around 5:15 p.m. Saturday when he was shot once in the back of the head, the Bucks County District Attorney’s office said in a news release.
The name of Kutt’s girlfriend is being withheld by the district attorney because she is a minor and because of privacy concerns, it was announced.
According to the version of events outlined by the DA in Monday’s news release about the shooting, the couple was sitting at the edge of the lake, waiting for the sun to set when Kutt was shot.
Jason Kutt and his girlfriend were sitting at the edge of Lake Nockamixon in Nockamixon State Park when he was fatally shot Saturday. The Bucks County District Attorney’s office said the couple were there to watch the sunset.
The district attorney’s office said it happened near the Old Ridge Road entrance to the park, across from the Lake Nockamixon marina and approximately 550 feet from where Kutt’s girlfriend later told police she saw a man who authorities have not yet identified.
Kutt’s girlfriend told police “she saw a man in an orange vest, which she described as hunting clothing, standing behind a yellow gate at Old Ridge Road, looking in their direction,” the CrimeWatch news release said.
The Bucks County District Attorney’s office released this drone photo of the gate where Jason Kutt’s girlfriend said she saw a man who may have been wearing hunting apparel around the time of his shooting.
Immediately following the shooting state game wardens and park rangers who were on patrol in the area responded to the scene, where emergency crews performed first aid on Kutt before he was transported to St. Luke’s Hospital-Bethlehem.
In addition to a K-9 unit and a state police helicopter, DA Matthew Weintraub said police officers from throughout Upper Bucks County then began a search of the area which failed to locate any persons of interest.
“We want to get to the bottom of this,” Weintraub said Monday. “We don’t have any suspects. We don’t even know if a crime has been committed yet. But we need to understand how Jason Kutt died and we need your help to do that.”
According to Weintraub, hunting was allowed at the state park on the day Kutt was shot.
“We need to understand what the shooter’s intent was, (and) whether there was actually any criminal mental state,” he said. “Things can happen on purpose, they can happen knowingly, they can happen recklessly, they can happen through gross negligence or purely by accident, and we have no way of knowing other than making educated guesses at this point and that’s not sufficient. Jason Kutt is entitled to more than that.”
In addition to Pennsylvania State Police, the Bedminster Township Police Department, Tinicum Township Police Department, Pennsylvania Game Commission, Bucks County Special Operations Dive Team, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and National Resources and Bucks County Detectives have assisted in the investigation.
Anyone with any information about the shooting is asked to contact Bucks County Detectives at 215-348-6868 or 215-340-8140, or to submit a tip online.
The Bedminster Township Police Department, the Pennsylvania State Police and detectives from the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office are investigating the case.
Funeral arrangements for Kutt, who was a 2020 graduate of Pennridge High School, have yet to be announced.
