MA: Man denies charge in Chesterfield hunting accident

March 30, 2010

Man denies charge in Chesterfield hunting accident

NORTHAMPTON - A Southwick man Monday denied charges related to an accidental hunting-related shooting in Chesterfield in December.

Joseph A. Walz, 39, pleaded innocent in Northampton District Court to a charge of causing a personal injury with a hunting weapon. The man he allegedly shot, Gerard Landry, 57, was not seriously hurt.

Judge Richard Carey released Walz on his own recognizance but ordered him not to possess any firearms.

Walz told investigators he mistook another man for a deer while hunting Dec. 1, 2009, in the Berkshire Park Campground, according to a police report included in court files.

Landry was struck in the left shoulder by a buckshot round fired from Walz's Browning semiautomatic shotgun, the police report states. The two men were standing about 20 yards apart, separated by a hemlock tree and some underbrush, the report states.

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