A man accidentally shot and killed his teenage son during a hunting trip, the Altai republic's branch of the Investigative Committee announced Thursday.
The unidentified man, carrying an unlicensed double barrel 16 gauge shotgun, had taken his son out to hunt deer in the woods of the Ust-Kansky district on Tuesday. His son was 14 years old, local media reported.
Assuming that a white shape receding into the darkness was a deer, the man took aim and fired, only to realize it was his son, who had been riding past on horseback, the investigators revealed in a statement.
The boy died immediately from gunshot wounds to the head and chest. A criminal investigation is currently underway.
According to local media reports, the man and his son had been hunting for Siberian roe deer at the time of the fatal incident. Siberian roe deer are larger and make for better trophies than their European counterparts, according to hunting website High Mountain Hunts.
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