A criminal case has been opened into an incident in which a dog shot dead its owner with a hunting rifle in Russia's Perm region, the TASS news agency reported Wednesday.
The accident occurred last month when three men out hunting stopped for a short break, leaving their loaded rifles on the ground, TASS reported. The dog stepped on one of the rifle's triggers and fired a bullet that hit one of the hunters, the dead man's two companions told local law enforcers.
The rifle's owner may be charged with causing death by carelessness if it is found that safety rules for handling firearms were violated, regional investigator Dmitry Valdaitsev told TASS.
The hunter's widow doesn't want anyone charged, said Valdaitsev. She said she wouldn't let the dog, named Karat, back into her house, and it was taken in by relatives, the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper reported last month.