17-Year-Old Shot and Killed After Friend Mistakes Him for Deer During Group Hunting Trip

Photo: Courtesy Bobbie Jean Lane

A 17-year-old boy is dead after his friend allegedly mistook him for a deer and fatally shot him during a group hunting trip in Georgia on Saturday.

“I don’t know whether [Romero] just saw the bushes moving and shot him,” a spokesperson for the Glynn County Police Department tells PEOPLE. “The group loaded him up into a pick-up truck into the bed and took him to the closest gas station, where they met with an ambulance.”

He later died at a hospital.

No charges have been filed. However, Mark McKinnon, a spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Law Enforcement Division, toldtheWashington Postthat firearm incidents while hunting are rare in the state, and Romero could face an illegal weapons charge.

Glynn County police and the DNR are investigating the incident.

Now, the grieving grandmother is wondering how this could have happened.

“There’s no deer that stand 6-foot-1 and would be shot directly into the chest. That’s why I’m angry,” Bobbie Jean says. “You cannot tell me somebody thought that a 6-foot-1 boy was a deer. He did not deserve to be done this way.”

“Gunna miss this little man like crazy. The kid that lived his life way too fast,” Rawlingwrote on Facebook. “Grew up way before he needed too. And lived out life like there was no tomorrow. Gone at 17 but I promise you I won’t forget you. Love you little man. See you on the other side.”

source: people.com