A northern Russia hunter has shot and killed his son, mistaking him for a moose, authorities said on Wednesday.
The victim died last Thursday from a single shot, investigators in the Khanty-Mansiysk autonomous district said in a round-up of cases opened during the New Year’s holidays.
“The hunter fired a rifle into a moving object in poor visibility, mistakenly believing that it was a moose,” the investigators said of the incident some 3,000 kilometers east of Moscow.
“Having come closer, the hunter saw that he mortally wounded his 18-year-old son,” they added.
The father was charged with causing death by negligence, which carries a prison sentence of up to two years.