70-year-old hunter fatally shoots man he mistook for bear, West Virginia officials say

A 70-year-old hunter shot and killed a man in West Virginia, investigators said.

Jimmy Carl Castle was hunting in Boone County, near the small community of Twilight, when he spotted what he thought was a bear, took aim and fired. It was around 11 a.m., Wednesday, Dec. 1.

Castle shot David Nicholas Green, 30, who was digging for roots in the area, according to the state Department of Natural Resources.

Soon after pulling the trigger, Castle knew something wasn’t right, DNR said.

Realizing he may have just shot a person, Castle left the area to ask a friend for help.

They returned to the site, but didn’t search the spot where the “bear” would have been, because they didn’t want to deal with steep terrain, officials said. Instead, Castle “concluded he had shot at a trash bag.”

Green’s family reported him missing and the Boone County Sheriff’s Office found his body the next day, the Associated Press reported.

At first, it seemed he died from a fall, “but further examination showed he had been shot,” officials said.

After hearing about the body found in the woods, Castle turned himself to the sheriff’s office, the AP reported.

The state Department of Natural Resources Police are now handling the investigation, DNR said.

Castle has been charged with failure to render aid, and negligent shooting involving bodily injury or death.

This story was originally published December 6, 2021 at 4:12 PM with the headline "70-year-old hunter fatally shoots man he mistook for bear, West Virginia officials say."