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What to know about the three accidental hunting shootings over the past year

2 days 22 hours 47 minutes ago Tuesday, December 31 2024 Dec 31, 2024 December 31, 2024 4:18 PM December 31, 2024 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE - Roberto Garcia, 61, of Baton Rouge was accidentally shot to death over the weekend while hunting on the Sandy Hollow Wildlife Management Area near Kentwood.

The Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has taken the lead in the investigation, but so far no one has been charged. He was shot by a .45 caliber muzzleloader.

It's the second accidental hunting shooting this year, and the third if you include last season.

"It's peak deer time--rut going on. Anybody who knows anything about deer hunting knows that Christmas and New Year's time, it starts getting cold and deer start running, " said Lt. Jared Riddle with LDWF. 

Almost exactly one year ago, Thomas Franklin accidentally shot and killed Jacob Altazan while they were hunting on property within Baton Rouge city limits. 

Baton Rouge police took the lead. 

When Franklin was arrested for negligent homicide, he said he mistook Altazan for a deer. He also said no one was wearing their hunter's orange safety vests when the shooting happened.

However, a friend of Altazan's provided WBRZ with video which shows him in his hunter's orange an hour before the shooting.

Whether he was wearing it at the time of the shooting is unclear.

But a hunter who was shot last week in Zachary was definitely not. LDWF, which took the lead, says neither the victim nor the shooter were.

The man survived, but agents cited the shooter for hunting deer without possessing deer tags and not wearing hunter's orange.

LDWF says that's why it's a requirement.

"Sometimes there's a question that's asked, why do I need this hunter's orange even if I'm on public property or private property? I think this is a very good example of clearly why we should wear it."

LDWF has not responded to questions about whether Garcia was wearing an orange vest.

Franklin's negligent homicide trial is scheduled to begin in August.

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