The Massachusetts Environmental Police deemed the shooting of a hunter on the Island over the winter as an accident. State officials say the victim is still recovering at home.
In December, a man was shot in the abdomen while hunting in Manuel F. Correllus State Forest, a day before shotgun season ended. According to a spokesperson from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, which environmental police is a part of, two hunters were “actively targeting a deer when the victim was shot.”
The spokesperson said environmental police determined the hunters had “not acted negligently or without care” following an investigation and didn’t charge anyone.
The Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs didn’t release the names of the hunters involved in the case.
A MassWildlife spokesperson previously told The Times that incidents in which a hunter is shot are rare. Usually, injuries or deaths while hunting are caused by a fall.