Getting shot in place of wild game is not a prime concern for outdoor vacationers, but this is what happened to three men camping out in Russia’s Sverdlovsk region, local investigators said.
The group hanging out near a local forest counted four men, but only three of them were hit with bullets early on Friday, the regional branch of the Investigative Committee said.
One victim, a high-ranking private security guard, died, while the other two had to be rushed to the hospital in unspecified condition, the committee said without releasing the victims’ names.
The shooter, who fled the scene in an off-road vehicle, was some 70 meters away from the picnic when he fired a hunting rifle, the report said.
The report said the perpetrator possibly mistook the men for boars in the dark, without elaborating on what exactly could prompt the hunter to confuse vacationers with wild swine.
Police are looking for the hunter, who faces up to two years in prison for involuntary manslaughter.
This wouldn’t be the first time: last September, an elderly poacher in the Tyumen region shot his son-in-law dead during a hunting expedition. The victim, seemingly bored of waiting for the game, played a prank on his relative by imitating boar noises, prompting the man to take a wild shot in the dark that hit the target.