Arrest Warrant Issued In Fatal Hunting “Accident”

January 23, 2009

Last months fatal shooting in Pisgah National Forest has resulted in charges being brought despite the DA’s initial plan to wait till February to present the case to a grand jury.

A Transylvania County magistrate judge issued a warrant Thursday morning for a Henderson County hunter involved in a fatal shooting last month. The warrant was issued against Kyle Keith, according to a press release issued by District Attorney Jeff Hunt.
The judge determined there was probable cause to believe that Keith had committed involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of Luciano M. Martinez on Dec. 13.

Unbelievably Captain Greg Daniels of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Enforcement Division reports that two hunters looked down the scoped barrel misidentifying Mr. Martinez as a deer and allegedly then Kyle Keith fired the single fatal shot.

Daniels said the two men were on the side of a mountain and saw movement in the woods.
“They both looked through the scope and both thought what they were shooting at was a deer,” he said.
According to Daniels, the shooter used a .300 Winchester short magnum rifle.
“He shot one round off and they walked down and then realized it was a person he shot,” Daniels said.
According to Daniels, the one shot entered Matinez’s neck and exited his armpit.
“He was dead on arrival,” he said.
Daniels said the area Martinez was picking galax in when he was shot was very thick.
“He wasn’t wearing blaze orange, but he wasn’t required to because he wasn’t hunting,” he said.

Blue Ridge Now

Failure to properly identify your target is not an accident in my view but carelessness on the shooters part. This is a tragic story for everyone involved it could have been avoided if proper gun handling safety rules were followed. Will continue to follow this story as it develops.