Kentucky Hunters Accidentally Shoot Themselves in Two Separate Incidents

Two hunters are dead after inadvertently shooting themselves in two separate freak accidents in the same county over the weekend, police said.

The two men, a 26-year-old and a 77-year-old, were on separate hunting trips in Garrard County, Kentucky, when they each accidentally discharged their guns as they were walking, according to Garrard County Sheriff Willie Skeens.

The deaths come amid an ongoing debate about gun control in the U.S., which typically focuses on gun crime but has also seen appeals for lessons on safety and training for people who use their guns for legitimate purposes.

The Kentucky deaths this weekend are not the first time a hunter has been injured or killed by their own hands with their weapons. In November 2021, a deer hunter in Minnesota was forced to have his leg amputated after he accidentally discharged his gun and shot himself in his left thigh.

In Kentucky this week, Sheriff Skeens said police were called out to two accidental self-inflicted deaths involving hunters in a bizarre coincidence.

First, on Saturday morning, Russell Stillwell, a 77-year-old from Indiana, died after mistakenly shooting himself in the Buckeye area.

The following day, local man Benjamin Brogle Jr., 26, of Garrard County, was killed when he accidentally shot himself in an area in the north of the county.

Skeens told local news channel WKYT that he had never seen anything like this in 30 years of law enforcement.

Details about the two deaths remain sparse. The nature of the men's injuries and the exact time of their deaths were not revealed in local reports about the incidents. It is also unclear whether the two victims were out alone, or if they were with others when the accidents occurred meaning there may have been witnesses.

Newsweek has reached out to the Garrard County Sheriff's Office by email seeking further information and comment.

In August this year, a hunter was accidentally shot by his friend as the pair tried to ward off a bear.

The two men had been hunting in the Smokey Range Trailhead in Whitefish, Montana, when they startled a grizzly bear who was with her cub. She charged at the pair who shot at her to save themselves from attack. They killed the bear, but one of the hunters accidentally shot his companion in the shoulder during the panic.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks investigated the incident and released a report determining that the 25-year-old bear had charged as she tried to protect her cub and that the men had subsequently killed her in self-defense.