Family of 14-year-old sues United States Air Force due to fatal wall collapse last year

WARNER ROBINS – The family of a 14-year-old who died due to a wall collapse last year is suing the United States of America, the United States Air Force and unknown civilian parties.

On July 22, 2024, a partition wall at the Heritage Pool bath house on Robins Air Force Base collapsed on Gabriel Stone and three others. Stone suffered trauma to his head, killing him.

Now, Stone’s parents, Timberly and Camalle Stone, are hoping for justice. The Stones are being represented by Atlanta-based attorneys Rod Edmond and Shofaetiyah Watson of Edmond & Lindsey, LLP.

Watson said RAFB conducted an investigation and gave the results to the family, but they have more questions than answers. This led to them filing a lawsuit in the United States District for the Middle District of Georgia. Watson shared they hope they will learn the names of the unknown officials through the discovery process.

“In that lawsuit, we allege that the government was negligent in its inspection and its maintenance of structures, more specifically the partition wall that is the wall that collapsed on Gabriel [Stone] and ultimately caused his death,” he said.

Watson said their main focus is the lack of maintenance and inspection on the wall, which was built in 1969. He shared they have asked RAFB for inspection records, which they haven’t seen.

The filed complaint states no major modifications or changes have been made to the bath house in the past 56 years.

“Nevertheless, we want accountability, we want an explanation, and our goal is to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again to another family,” he said.

According to the United States Air Force Ground Investigation Board report, the 78^th Civil Engineer Squadron is responsible for the maintenance and repair of facilities, including the Heritage Pool bath house. 

According to the GAIB’s report, facility managers are required to conduct weekly facility inspections and maintain checklist records in a continuity binder.

The report says:

“The last inspection in the Facility Manager’s continuity binder for the bathhouse was dated 28 June 2024 and did not identify any concerns with the MW [mishap wall], nor did a review of the last three years of inspections.” 

To see the full report click here.

According to Watson, structures like the partition wall are all over the world at various military bases. Edmond said there should have been indications the wall was unstable, if RAFB did adequate inspections and repaired it properly.

Timberly Stone described her son as a beautiful soul. She said if someone had anything going on in their life, he was there to make sure it turned out to be positive.

“If Gabriel was around, you were always smiling. He made good grades, he made friends wherever he went, and I mean wherever he went,” she said. “It could be a short trip to the store. He was pretty much all around a good kid. He was the light to everybody’s birthday, including mine.”

Timberly Stone said some days she is okay, but a lot of days she is not since the tragedy.

“Just knowing that my youngest son is no longer here, it hurts. I don’t want anybody, and I mean no one else to have to go through this. You never expect it so when it happens it hits you and it hits you hard every day,” she said.

Gabriel Stone’s father, Camalle Stone described him as the best part of him and saw himself in his son. He shared he thought the loss would get easier with time, but it has only been harder. Camalle Stone said he thinks about the beautiful life that is no longer with him.

He also shared he was training him during that time and going to the pool was a regular activity for them; Camalle Stone said he wanted him to be active. The same day the tragedy happened, they went to the basketball court and later decided to go to the pool.

“It’s hard adjusting. He was the last one I had in the house. As a dad, I pride myself on being a good dad, being a present dad, being the one that’s coaching my boys to be better than me and now I can’t experience that. I can’t see what all my seeds produced in my son,” he said.

That day, Camalle Stone took his older son and a friend to the pool, who were also injured when the wall collapsed. He shared they went to the pool a lot and Gabriel Stone invited his friend to come along. He also said his son was excited to go to the pool, since he taught him to swim at a young age.

“He enjoyed it, that was one of his things to do and that was one of my favorite things to take him to do because I know it was safe. I still feel like military bases is one of the safest places in the world to be, especially in the United States. I’m thinking that this is a good thing, let me go do something constructive with my children and be in a safe place. I didn’t think anything could happen to him at the time,” he said.

Camalle Stone had access to RAFB since he is a veteran who served in the United States Marine Corps.

Watson believes the inspections were not done in a proper and effective way. This would ensure the wall was properly anchored to the floor and prevent it from falling. He shared they are looking for accountability from not just the Air Force, but for whatever was responsible.

“We want a full explanation for the family as to what happened with this wall and, again, we just want to ensure that something like this doesn’t happen again,” he said. “That no other family has to endure the loss of a loved one whether 14 [years old], 44 [years old] or 84 [years old] because the government failed to inspect a structure on the facility.”

Edmond also shared he is an Army veteran, and he has swum in pools similar to the Heritage Pool bath house. He said there are many structures around the United States built around the same time and built by the same construction company. He believes bases need to tear down these structures or fix them so no one will experience a similar tragedy.

He also believes the investigation conducted by RAFB was a selective investigation. In the report, there was information about a construction company who put up the wall years ago improperly. However, he said there is no data and information about the inspection of the wall throughout the years.

“One would think that clearly, obviously, at first blush should be the first information that’s given in an inspection, in an investigation and in a report; there was none. So, as a result of that we filed a lawsuit,” he said.

Timberly and Camalle Stone hope the outcome of this will be accountability and justice for their son.