PDF: Hunting Incident Prelim Report
A spokesman with the John Oxendine gubernatorial campaign confirmed Wednesday that the insurance commissioner's son fired the shot that "peppered" a fellow hunter Sunday in a Walker County, Ga., accident.
A 14-year-old boy fired the shot during a quail hunt involving Mr. Oxendine, according to a report released by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
But Oxendine spokesman David Crim said the boy actually was only 13.
Mr. Oxendine's campaign Web site says he has three sons: high school senior JW, seventh-grader Philip and Jake, an infant. The site says JW and Philip are hunters.
According to the report, the victim, Russell M. Robertson Jr., 59, of Chickamauga, was hit with about 30 pellets in the right leg. He was treated at a hospital in Rome, Ga., and released.
The report said a quail flew behind the line of hunters and four hunters fired at the bird.
In an interview Wednesday morning at the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Mr. Oxendine was asked if he or one of his sons was involved in the shooting. He said he was not the shooter but did not answer whether one of his sons was involved. He said he had not yet read the report of the incident.
Mr. Oxendine responded to media reports that he and his sons were not licensed by explaining he had checked with the department of natural resources and licenses were not required on specified hunting reserves.
Mr. Crim said he did not expect Mr. Oxendine, who was traveling in the region Wednesday, to release a statement.
Staff writer Joy Lukachick contributed to this story.