Hunter's death remains under investigation
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
The hunter had turned 46 Sunday, when he was shot to death.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN — Township police and a state agency still have work to do
to piece together the shooting death of a Champion man, said a state
wildlife officer.
Police identified the man who was fatally shot while hunting
Sunday as David Lesh, 46, of Mahoning Avenue, Champion.
Police Lt. Don Bishop said Monday that Lesh was not wearing blaze
orange colors as required by state law when he was shot in the head.
He was wearing camouflage-type clothing.
Reno Reda, state wildlife officer with the Ohio Department of
Natural Resources' Division of Wildlife, said Lesh was hunting with
an adult man and a male juvenile when they became separated from
Lesh.
Lesh was shot after dark, Bishop explained.
State regulations for deer hunting specify that hunting can take
place a half-hour before sunrise and end at sunset.
Reda said they don't know who shot Lesh.
"That's yet to be determined," Reda said.
There was one hunting fatality statewide in 2006 and one, not
including the Lesh death, in 2007, according to the ODNR.
Lordstown 911 dispatch said a woman called at 7:52 p.m., saying
one of the three hunters had become separated from the other two and
the other two had just found the body. The woman wasn't identified.
The body was located near a set of railroad tracks that cross
North River Road near Mahoning Avenue. It's unclear if he was shot
at the location or had moved.
Bishop said the area is nearly across the street from where Lesh
lived. Lesh celebrated his 46th birthday Sunday.
Reda said the death was a hunting accident and not a suicide,
although the investigation is continuing.
"We have not pieced it together," Reda added.
The three hunters were using muzzleloaders the last day of the
deer muzzleloader season when Lesh was shot.
The other two hunters, who were properly dressed for hunting by
wearing orange, were released after questioning.
An autopsy was performed Monday at Forum Health Trumbull Memorial
Hospital.
