FL: Hunter kills dog and shoots another hunter
Hunting Shooting Thanksgiving Evening
12/03/08 - 04:13 PM
Walton County, Fla: The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission is currently investigating a shooting. Stan Kirkland with the
FWC says the case is being treated as a hunting accident but remains
under investigation.
According to Kirkland, the hunting accident occurred Nov. 27,
Thanksgiving Day, between 4:45 - 5:00 p.m., which is late but still
during legal game shooting hours. The incident took place on the
shoreline of Berrianne Lake on the Choctawhatchee River Wildlife
Management Area (WMA), which is an oxbow lake off the Choctawhatchee
River in Walton County.
Kirkland says the 21-year-old victim, Jonathan Pettis, Ponce de Leon,
his female yellow Labrador retriever and a 22-year-old friend had been
hunting and were returning to their boat at sundown and walking along
the swampy shoreline when the 23-year-old shooter, Brandon Newsom, of
High Springs, FL (but formerly of Holmes County) and a 17-year-old
friend returned to their boat from a different direction. The victim and
shooter were separated by a narrow slough.
According to the investigation, Newsom saw what he thought was a wild
hog or animal and fired several times with his shotgun, striking and
injuring Pettis and killing his dog. Newsom and his friend transported
the injured Pettis and his friend back to the boat landing and called
911. Pettis was admitted to Bay Medical Center in Bay County that
evening and remained hospitalized through Dec. 2.
The FWC says all four individuals involved were hunting squirrels or
ducks and were not wearing hunter orange.
Fair Use Notice: This document may contain copyrighted material
whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owners. We believe
that this not-for-profit, educational use on the Web constitutes
a fair use of the copyrighted material (as provided for in section
107 of the US Copyright Law). If you wish to use this copyrighted
material for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must
obtain permission from the copyright owner.
