A dog has shot and killed a 30-year-old man in the front seat of a car after it stepped on a hunting rifle lying in the back seat, Kansas authorities said.
Police say there is confusion over the man’s death because he was sitting in the passenger seat of the truck when he was shot. They say the reason for the confusion is that it was not known who called the emergency services.
It is only believed that it is possible that the place where the dog was sitting is where there is a gun that was used to make it shoot the man, apparently, he was shot in the back.
Officials added that the accident appears to have been hunting-related, with supplies found in the back of the vehicle.
“A canine belonging to the owner of the pickup stepped on the rifle, causing the weapon to discharge,” the Sumner County Sheriff’s office said in a statement to local media.
“The fired round struck the passenger, who died of his injuries on scene.
“The investigation is ongoing, but the preliminary investigation shows it to be a hunting-related accident.” The owner of the truck and the dog were not immediately clear, and an investigation is taking place.
Incidents like this, involving dogs, are extremely rare. But it has happened before.
In November, a 32-year-old man in Turkey was shot after his dog stepped on a shotgun.
The man, Ozgur Gevrekoglu had been out hunting with his friend in the Kızlan Plateau, in the Samsun Province of Turkey, when the animal’s paw touched the loaded weapon as he was being put in a car.
The gunshot at the man from a short distance, and he was later pronounced dead. He had become a father just 10 days before the incident, Turkish news outlet Turkiye reported.
Following the incident, police and prosecutors investigated the death. They didn’t suspect foul play.
