COAL HILL, Ark. (AP) — The Johnson County sheriff says a 43-year-old man is dead after he was shot by a man who mistook him for a deer.
Sheriff Jimmy Dorney says Thomas Edward Sears, who went by the name Eddie, was walking along a trail beside Horsehead Creek on Wednesday afternoon when he was shot.
Authorities say a man was sitting in a swing in his backyard when he saw movement across the creek from his residence. The sheriff says the resident retrieved a rifle and fired one shot at what he thought was a deer.
The resident found Sears dead of a gunshot wound when he went to investigate. The shooting death remains under investigation.
The sheriff says authorities do not know why Sears was walking on the trail.
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