ATTACK versus DEFEND
Before anyone gets trigger-happy and heads for the woods in search of the killer bear, let's remember (as some have already mentioned here) that this bear was DEFENDING itself in its own territory, from a perceived threat.....not searching out these boy scouts, hunting them down, and attacking them.
Calling this a bear attack is akin to calling me a dangerous villain if someone broke into my house with a weapon, and I shot them in self defense. If you venture into the wilderness, you're no longer the dominant predator, and bad things can happen, even if you do everything right.
The situation that occurred several weeks ago in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, where a bear came upon a tent camp at night, tore into the tent and killed the husband/wife, is what I would consider an ATTACK - the bear was not surprised, had options, was not starving to death, just decided that it was easier to kill these people than to chase salmon or gather berrries.....that bear was pursued and killed, rightfully so in my opinion.
Glad the boy is safe now, he'll have quite a story to tell his children. I hope he doesn't have nightmares or any aftereffects of that nature.
Michael