A family hunting trip in Texas turned tragic Sunday when a 15-year-old boy was fatally shot. The boy was getting rifles ready when he suffered a gunshot wound directly to his chest area, in what the Presidio County Sheriff's Office is calling a hunting accident.
The incident occurred near a popular hunting area north of Presidio, west of Highway 67, authorities said.
The sheriff's office responded to the scene around 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 3. The teenager was first transported to Marfa by family and escorted by deputies, and then to Alpine Big Bend Regional Medical Center, where he was declared deceased on arrival.
Names were not provided out of respect to the family. However, the Grandfalls-Royalty Independent School District confirmed that the district was mourning the loss of Payton Pesina. Your Basin reported that authorities with the Ward County Sheriff's Office confirmed that Pesina died while in the Presidio area. The district's Facebook post described Pesina as a "beloved" student.
Presidio County Sheriff's Office
The case was referred to the Texas Rangers for further investigation.
There have been a handful of incidents across the nation this autumn, including two in Minnesota. The first occurred when a man was shot by a 10-year-old child in October as the child was trying to unload a bolt-action Ruger .270, authorities said. Another happened when a man was accidentally shot by his daughter while they were in a treestand, officials said. In November, a man in Illinois died after being shot by another person in his hunting party.
While some hunting accidents are unpreventable and, essentially, freak accidents, the Texas teen's death is a reminder of the importance of hunting gun safety 101: Keep your firearm's chamber empty when you're not on an active hunt; the safety on until you're ready to aim; and the barrel always, always, always pointed away from a person.
READ MORE: The Most Important Safety Lessons For Hunters
