A hiker on a trail in Missouri was shot Saturday after a hunter mistook him for turkey, according to police.
The shooting happened around noon in the Weldon Spring Conservation Area, which is nearly 8,400 acres, according to a statement by the St. Charles County Police Department on Facebook. The hiker was on the Lewis and Clark trail when the hunter shot him.
The conservation area is located approximately 34 miles west of St. Louis.
Val Joyner, the spokeswoman for the St. Charles County Police Department, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch it appeared that the incident was “just a really bad accident.” Rescue crews air-lifted the hiker to the hospital, according to KSDK. He was reportedly in serious condition at the time of the incident, but it was unclear what his condition was the following days.
The hunter and hiker were not identified.
A witness said she saw a hunter “with a large rifle” wearing camouflage and she saw the victim lying on a stretcher. (RELATED: 11-Year-Old Boy Reportedly Killed In Hunting Accident)
“He was covered with a yellow tarp. I could see . . . his torso. He didn’t have his shirt on, and (paramedics) were working on him,” she said, according to KSDK.
Rebecca Brown, who was running nearby, told the Post-Dispatch that she saw a man in his 50s or 60s wearing camouflage and holding a firearm, and she witnessed emergency responders helping a man on a stretcher who was nearly covered in yellow tarp. She reportedly said the man was in his 30s.
Brown added that although it may have been an accident, it was “unforgivable” that people were allowed to hunt in the area on Mother’s Day weekend, when many families are expected to be in the area.
“There were families out there today with kids and dogs,” she told the Post-Dispatch.
The hiker was shot amid a turkey hunt managed by the Missouri Department of Conservation. The hunt was set to end on Sunday, the final day of the state’s turkey season, according to KSDK.
The Missouri Department of Conservation is conducting an ongoing investigation into the incident.