Posted on 10/23/2011 4:24:34 PM PDT by grundle
A man hunting with his grandson accidentally killed a U.S. Marine due to return to duty this week, after mistaking him for a bear in the Oregon wilderness, authorities said.
Christopher Ochoa, 20, of French Camp, Calif., died at the scene in western Oregon Friday night. He had been hiking with a friend through a field and was wearing dark clothes, according to The Associated Press. The pair were headed to Silver Creek Falls Park.
Gene Collier, who was hunting bear with his 12-year-old grandson saw movement in the brush and fired one shot from a .270-caliber rifle, striking Ochoa, the Marion County Sheriff's Office said. His pal was able to summon authorities and direct them to the scene. Although deputies administered first aid to Ochoa, who was alive when they arrived, he died at the scene.
Collier, 67, hasn't been charged and authorities said the shooting appeared to be accidental. Still, the case was handed over to the local district attorney's office.
A press release from the sheriff's office said Collier cooperated fully with authorities, and there was no indication that he was impaired by drugs or alcohol.
Ochoa's family in California told police he and Raymond Westrom, 53, of Lathrop, Calif., were in Salem, Oregon, to do work on a house. Ochoa was set to report back for duty on Oct. 25.
Never shoot at anything you can’t see.
I didn’t know there was a season for hunting bears!
This scumbag should be put in prison for the rest of his life.
Put this moron away forever.
Put this moron away forever.
This guy is dead and you want to prosecute him? Maybe he really wasn't a moron or scumbag. Maybe nobody told him not to go hiking in the forest without wearing hunter orange during hunting season.
Hunting accidents are caused by carelessness.
Unless the marine was wearing camoflauge or something, that hunter should lose his license for not being sure as to what he was shooting at.
Sadly stuff like this happens. Remember my HS had a wall full of WW2 vets who grad and died in the war. About 1/4 of them died in training accidents or car accidents while coming home from the war. Now that I am in my 50’s it haunts me to look at the very young faces of those who did not make it. Makes me wonder what they would have become if they did not die and continued life.
Sad.
Wonder if he could actually be covering for the kid. Been known to happen. Doubt it but you never know.
One story had it the dead guy was wearing a black jacket. The hunter was hunting black bear.
We used to ride in a Wild Life Preserve in Calif.
During ANY hunting season, we wore bright colors- ORANGE or very bright Yellow or bright red. We talked a little bit louder to each other, also, deliberately.
Whenever we encountered hunters, tho, we always showed them on the map where we always saw the wild turkeys.
“Something is moving! Shoot before it gets away!”
If the marine contributed his own demise by wearing colours that could cause him to be mistaken for a wild animal, that is definitely a factor.
The shooter is a careless moron but the Marine wasn’t too bright either. You don’t go in the woods during hunting season without taking proper precautions, like wearing orange or at least bright clothing.
When I fish during hunting season I wear at minimum an orange hat.
It may have been prudent for the Marine hiker to have been wearing orange in a hunting area, if he even knew it was a hunting area, but it’s not his responsibility. It is the responsibility of the hunter to be sure of his target. This hunter wasn’t.
That said, no matter what they do or don’t do to the 67 y/o hunter, he will live with this the rest of his life.
The article says that the hunter was not impaired by drugs or alcohol. But, friends, this man was impaired...by stupidity.
I avoid public parks which allow hunting during hunting season, unless I’m hunting.
Even then its fairly dangerous in this area. I know many people who will not hunt on public land.
I avoid public parks which allow hunting during hunting season, unless I’m hunting.
Even then its fairly dangerous in this area. I know many people who will not hunt on public land.
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