North Carolina teen impaled by rifle in hunting accident in Mississippi, officials say
A North Carolina teen was killed in a hunting accident in northern Mississippi over the weekend, state officials said.
The victim, 17-year-old Justin Lee Smith of Supply, North Carolina, plunged 10 feet and landed on his rifle Saturday when the stand he was in shifted sideways, WTVA-TV reported.
“The ladder stand, he had it tethered to a thin pine tree and it twisted,” Tishomingo County coroner Mack Wilemon told McClatchy News. “It twisted and just spilled him.”
The barrel of the rifle impaled Smith’s right underarm and into his chest, the coroner said.
The teen was able to call 911 but died a short time later, according to WTVA.
Wilemon said Smith was hunting with others but that they were spread out in “a very remote area” when the accident occurred.
An official with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks told McClatchy News the incident is under investigation.