By GLENN CRAVEN, Daily Dispatch Editor
A 39-year-old Maryland man is "very fortunate" to be alive today
after he was accidentally shot in the face while hunting with his young
son.
Vance County Sheriff R. Thomas Breedlove said Victor Hinton, whose address
is listed on sheriffs' reports as 1302 Gun Powder Court in Fort Washington,
Md., had taken his 11-year-old son deer hunting Friday morning at a hunting
club in the Woodsworth Road vicinity of northern Vance County, more than
15 miles north of Henderson. Breedlove said the father is handicapped and
stayed in the pickup truck while the boy set up to hunt about 100 feet
away.
At around 8:45 a.m., according to reports, the child - armed with a 12-gauge
shotgun - fired three times at a deer that had crossed between his position
and his father's.
A Virginia man told Vance County sheriff's deputies that he saw the accident
unfold.
The witness said he saw the deer following a path that would take him
between the father and son, and he told a deputy that he shouted out at
the child not to shoot. But Breedlove said the boy fired three times, striking
a nearby church, a utility pole and the pickup truck where his father sat.
Breedlove said Victor Hinton was transported by first responders to the
Townsville Fire Station. From there, he was taken by EMS to Maria Parham
Medical Center in Henderson, though a spokesperson at the hospital did
not "have knowledge" of Hinton nor of his condition when contacted
Friday night. Checkboxes on official sheriff's office reports indicated
that Hinton's wounds were "minor" in nature.
"(Hinton) was very fortunate," Breedlove said. "He had
one double-ought pellet hit him here (in the right cheek) and another one
hit him in the elbow. Š Usually anything you shoot with double-ought buckshot
at 100 feet, you're going to kill."
Fair Use Notice: This document may contain copyrighted material
whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owners. We believe
that this not-for-profit, educational use on the Web constitutes
a fair use of the copyrighted material (as provided for in section
107 of the US Copyright Law). If you wish to use this copyrighted
material for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must
obtain permission from the copyright owner.
