A Wichita, Kansas resident was on a hunting trip with a friend. His dog and hunting gear, including a loaded rifle, were in the back of the pickup truck.
Joseph Austin Smith, 30, had the unexpected happened, when his dog accidentally stepped on the gun, causing it to shoot him in the back at close range.
Smith was in the front passenger seat. The driver sitting next to him was not injured.
Emergency responders received a 911 call at around 10 a.m. on Saturday, January 21. They attempted to save Smith with CPR and other methods but he died soon after.
Police concluded the unfortunate incident was an accident, and no further investigations are planned.
Accidental shootings in the US occur often. The Gun Violence Archive has already tracked 101 cases this year. In 2022, 1,600 unintentional shootings were recorded.
In a similar incident in 2022, 32-year-old Ozgur Gevrekoglu was killed when his dog accidentally discharged a loaded shotgun in Turkey.
In another incident in 2018, a man from New Mexico was shot by his dog when the Rottweiler’s paw hit the trigger while the man and his pet were inside a truck.
