Hunting accident in Cantal: indictment of the teenager suspected of being responsible for the shooting

The 17-year-old girl suspected of shooting the gunshot that killed a hiker on Saturday during a wild boar beat in Cantal was indicted on the count of manslaughter, announced the prosecutor of Aurillac on Tuesday February 22.

The girl was placed under judicial control with “no possession or carrying of a weapon”, said the prosecutor, Paolo Giambiasi, in a press release. She had been taken into custody on Sunday in the investigation opened for manslaughter.

The judicial information opened on Tuesday “will focus in particular on determining the positions and times of firing” during the beating, according to the prosecution. “The hearings of the witnesses of the facts and of the hunters who participated in the hunt revealed that several shots had been fired in the context of this hunt”, had noted the prosecution on Monday. An autopsy of the victim’s body was to take place Tuesday morning.

Hospitalized before being heard

Saturday afternoon, in the town of Cassaniouze, in the south of the department, a 25-year-old woman was hit by a shot “in the upper part of the body, on the left level”. “Aware first”she died on the spot “despite the first aid provided in particular by the man with whom she was walking”said the magistrate.

“Immediately after the shooting”, the 17-year-old presented herself as the author of the shooting. In shock, she was first hospitalized before being heard by investigators on Sunday.

Producing a hunting license in order, she explained to the gendarmes that she had targeted a boar, shot, then heard the cry of a man at the level of a path where she then went. According to the results of the tests, she had not consumed narcotics or alcohol. She was placed in police custody in the investigation opened for manslaughter, which gave rise to a judicial investigation on Tuesday. She “will focus in particular on determining the positions and times of firing” during the beating, according to the prosecution.

“A drama that questions”

This fatal accident has revived the debate on hunting, in the middle of the presidential campaign, with candidates calling for its practice to be banned on weekends and during holidays. “It’s a drama that questions”said Monday the Minister of Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili, on the sidelines of a trip to Tarbes.

“You have to take into account the weight of the responsibility that you put on somewhat young shoulders. We must not fall into demagogic escalation, but also look at how such a young girl can end up with a gun in her arms. she added.

Asked about the possible establishment of hunting-free days, the Minister recalled that ” it exists “. “We have to think about how to better reconcile hunters and all nature users. You have to look at it territory by territory”did she say.