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VA: Virginia Man Killed in Hunting AccidentApril 27, 2010 Virginia Man Killed in Hunting Accident YALE - A Virginia man is shot and killed at a local hunt club and investigators say the person who pulled the trigger is a teenager from our area. The shooting happened Saturday in Yale near Sussex County, about an hour south of Richmond involving the Flagtail Hunt Club. A 17-year-old is suspected of shooting and killing a man he may have mistaken for an animal. Witnesses say the teen kept saying he didn't mean to shoot the victim. It's a tragic mistake hunters say can easily be make during wild turkey season, because in Virginia it's not a requirement to wear blaze orange. The Flagtail Hunt Club straddles the Southampton-Sussex County line. Hunters swarm the area in the spring to get a shot at taking home a bird, but Saturday afternoon, after a shotgun blast, gaming was the last thing on every hunter's mind. Allan Rader, 61, of Franklin never made it out of the woods. Police say the retired mailman died before medics could transport him. His brother, Sid Rader, says "He felt like being in the woods was like being next to God." The victim lived with his brother and sister-in-law in Virginia Beach. Rader says, "It's a shocker. It's very difficult for my wife and I both because he had become a regular member of our household." Hunting was a huge part of Allan Rader's life, his brother says he died doing what he loved. The surviving Rader also says he can't be upset with the 17-year-old Petersburg boy who police say got excited and prematurely pulled the trigger. Sid Rader says, "This poor kid has to live with it the rest of his life. My brother may have been at fault or maybe he was, but it was an accident and for that I can't hold a grudge." The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is in charge of the investigation, a decision about whether the teen will or will not be charged hasn't been made. Return to Hunting Accident Index
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