Ohio Hunting Fatality

[308win]

Heart-stopping gun recoil blamed in hunting accident that killed boy



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A 12-year-old boy was killed when the butt of his shotgun struck his chest and stopped his heart, authorities said.
Hunter Troxel was hunting with his father, Craig, on Monday in some woods near their home in Harpster in southern Wyandot County when the boy fired his shotgun at a deer and missed, said Wyandot County Sheriff Michael Hetzel. His father fired his 12-gauge at the deer, then noticed his son was gasping for air. The boy collapsed, and the father called for help.
The sheriff said it appears that the gun recoiled when it was fired and struck Hunter in the chest.
The boy was taken to Wyandot Memorial Hospital after the 3 p.m. incident and then flown to Nationwide Children’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The blow from the shotgun hit him at a certain time during the electrical sequence that causes the heart to beat, disrupting the nerve impulses and stopping his heart, Franklin County Coroner Brad Lewis said. His office examined the boy’s body Tuesday.
The sheriff said it was possible the boy was not holding his gun properly and that’s why it hit him where it did. "He was just a small young man, only 12 years old," Hetzel said.
This type of death is relatively rare, and it’s unclear why some blows to the chest stop the heart and others don’t, Lewis said.
"It really was a tragic, freak accident," he said. "It’s a terrible quirk of fate that you get hit at that particular moment in time."

I don't intend to cast a pall on hunting. The possibility of an occurrence like this would have never occurred to me. Read, learn, enjoy your time with your children; you never know.

 

[Legionnaire]

That's tragic. "This type of death is relatively rare ..." I'll say! I've heard of things stopping the heart, but never recoil! Sheriff speculated that the boy wasn't holding the gun properly. Good reminder to make sure our youngsters know how hold, and for us to make sure we aren't asking them to handle a firearm that's of improper size for their frame.

My prayers go out for the family.

 

[skinewmexico]

Same thing happens occasionally with baseballs. Tragic.

 

[tydephan]

Very sad.

And something I will remember when my 6-month old son gets old enough to hunt.

 

[ojibweindian]

Same thing happens occasionally with baseballs. Tragic.

I've actually witnessed that. When I was 9, the pitcher on my team took a line-drive shot right to the chest; dropped him like a sack of bricks. Fortunately, some adult knew CPR (or something) and he was up in a few minutes.

His parents rushed him to the hospital and the next time I saw him, he said that he almost died.

 

[atomchaser]

I knew a kid in high school who got hit in the chest with a beer bottle and went down for the long count. Freak things sometimes happen.

 

[ArkansasHunter]

Please join me in praying for the family. This is so sad.

 

[Funderb]

Let this be an unfortunate lesson to those of us who are still alive in this world. And by that I mean everyone.
CPR - It saves lives. I'm current in it, and always have been since I did the
yearly classes required for boy scouts, and kept going after I turned 18.
You never know when you will need it, and it may be the most useful thing you'll ever learn, or the thing you wished you learned, that one time.
Classes are very cheap to free. ten dollars to support the red cross at most.
You learn general first aid, infant, adult, and senior CPR.
It could have turned this situation around.
If the idea of saving a life isn't enough to convince you,
you can be a hero too, if at least for one family.
Go get certified if you aren't,
and to those that are, great.