A Georgia teenager was killed Thursday when a rifle went off as he and his father geared up for a fishing trip, the Athens Banner-Herald reported.
Madison County sheriff’s Capt. Jimmy Patton said the victim, 15-year-old Brian Newsome, died at the scene. He told the newspaper that Newsome’s father was “extremely distraught” and said an investigation, which was still ongoing, indicated the shooting was accidental.
The gun discharged when Newsome’s father tried to load a boat on the Broad River near the Elbert County line, Patton said.
“There is a place where a lot of people put in boats. They had a rifle they took along in case they saw a wild hog,” he told the Banner-Herald. “Evidently they did this a lot.”