A longtime Inland Boy Scout official died Saturday after he was struck by a model rocket while participating in the Boy Scouts of America’s annual Rocket Rave event in Johnson Valley.

The event is a gathering where Scouts and others launch homemade and commercially made model rockets.

Michael Bentley, a 50-year-old Highland resident, was there watching his friend launch a homemade rocket, San Bernardino County sheriff’s officials wrote in a news release.

UPDATE: Victim remembered as role model, mentor

After watching the rocket take off, Bentley apparently lost track of its trajectory.

When the rocket came down it struck Bentley in the face as he looked toward the sky, officials said. Spectators at the event called 911.

Two off-duty San Bernardino County sheriff’s officials who were at the event ran to Bentley and realized he had suffered life-threatening injuries, the release said.

The two officials, Lt. Sam Fisk and Detective F. Hernandez, arranged to have a California Highway Patrol helicopter pick up Bentley, the release said.

Johnson Valley is in the High Desert off Highway 247, north of Yucca Valley and East of Lucerne Valley.

Bentley was taken to a Palm Springs hospital, where he died in surgery.

The size of the rocket and who launched it were not disclosed. The Sheriff’s Department said 911 callers reported that a man had been hit in the face with a “bottle rocket.” Boy Scout model rocket kits are usually about 1- to 3-feet long with cardboard bodies and plastic or wood tips.

Bentley had been involved in Scouting since his youth and was the immediate past district chairman of the Arrowhead District of the California Inland Empire Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

Council executive Joseph Daniszewski said Bentley was “just a great Scouter and a really great man. It’s just a tragedy.”

“All of us in the Inland Empire Council are really very sad for the loss of Michael and our thoughts and prayers go to him and his family,” Daniszewski said Sunday.

According to his Facebook page, Bentley worked as a building plant operator at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center.

He also served as the chartering-organization representative for Troop 45, which is sponsored by First United Methodist Church of Highland. He organized the Rocket Rave in 2013, according to the CIEC’s webpage.

After a church service Sunday morning, the Rev. Cynthia Huskey of the United Methodist church said Bentley did a lot of good work with Troop 45.

She said he helped the boys think up Eagle Scout projects that would benefit the church, like building a walkway and putting up a new flagpole.

Huskey said Bentley “very much cared for the boys and their development and Scouting.”

“He just had a big heart, she said. “So many hearts are broken.”

Friends knew Bentley as a good mechanic and a go-to repairman who liked model trains, said church trustee Jimmy Carrow.

Carrow and his wife, Peggy, knew Bentley for about four decades and called on him from time-to-time to help with mechanical or electrical issues.

Jimmy Carrow said he would occasionally tag along with Bentley when Bentley worked his side job as a repairman at an animal hospital.

“I would just go along to keep him company … and I’d end up learning something,” Carrow said. “You were always learning something with him.”

Bentley was always quiet in his generosity, said Carrow’s wife, Peggy.

“He was very laid back,” she said. “He was just in the background doing these things.”

At the Bentley home, grieving family members declined to comment.

In 2010, Bentley earned Scouting’s Silver Beaver Award, which is awarded to registered adult leaders who have made an impact on the lives of youth through service given to the council.

The Carrows said Bentley was married with four sons.

Troop 45 Parent Committee Chairman Byron Morales said the incident was a tragic shock to him and Bentley’s family.

He was “a good leader, and a great inspiration,” Morales said.