NORTH WEBSTER – A hunting accident left one man in the hospital this weekend.
On Saturday around 3 p.m., Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department received a 911 call in reference to an accidental shooting at Tri-County Game Preserve near North Webster.
Trenton M. Wogomon, 33, of 651 W. Walnut St., Nappanee, was shot in the stomach by a pair of squirrel hunters who mistook him for a squirrel. Wogomon was deer hunting in his deer stand when the shot was fired.
Upon arrival, KCSD deputies J.D. Ayres and Brandon Hepler and Sgt. Todd Sautter found two male subjects flagging them down and assisting the victim. Shortly after Ayres, Hepler and Sautter arrived, the EMS also arrived and began to attend to Wogomon.
Ayres identified the two males as Derek Zurcher, 17, of Leesburg, and Timothy Hofer Jr., 17, of Warsaw.
Zurcher informed Ayres that the two were hunting squirrels with a third friend, Peter Mortakis, 16, of Warsaw, when Mortakis shot at what he thought was a squirrel in a tree, but then realized it was a man in a tree stand. Zurcher said they helped Wogomon out of the tree and Mortakis was the one who called 911.
Mortakis arrived on the scene and asked Ayres how Wogomon was. Ayres said Wogomon was going to be transported to the hospital for treatment.
Ayres then asked Mortakis where his hunting gun was. Mortakis said the gun was in the back of the vehicle. Ayres then took the gun, as well as the guns that Zurcher and Hofer had.
The severity of injuries to Wogomon was unknown at press time. No charges have been filed yet in Kosciusko County.
