November 28, 2011
From FoxNews.com
A Vermont man took his own life Saturday after accidentally
killing his friend in a deer hunting accident, police said.
Authorities said they believe 49-year-old Timothy Bolognani, of
Readsboro, Vt., killed himself with a hunting rifle after
accidentally shooting his friend, 39-year-old Benjamin Birch, while
the two were hunting for deer Saturday morning, the Bennington
Banner reported.
The two men were reportedly hunting in woods about a mile west of
Howe Pond Road in Readsboro with another friend, identified as Mark
Colford.
Police said that when they responded to the scene, they found
Bolognani and Birch dead from gunshot wounds, according to the
newspaper.
Investigators said Birch shot at a deer, which then ran through
the woods. The three men tried to track the animal, police said, and
at some point Bolognani fired his rifle.
Birch was heard crying out before Bolognani and Colford found him
lying on the ground, where he later died, the newspaper reported.
Bolognani, the son of former state Rep. Betty Bolognani, then
shot and killed himself with his own rifle, police said. No foul
play is suspected.
"These guys were best friends and professional hunters," Birch’s
mother, Jacqueline Clara Howe, told the Boston Herald.
The hunting deaths were the second tragedy to hit the Bolognani
family in the past two years.
Bolognani's 18-year-old daughter, Jessica, reportedly died in a
snowmobile accident in Jan. 2010.
The teenager was struck by an oncoming snowmobile after falling
from her own, according to the Burlington Free Press.
