A 52-year-old man from Nanaimo, B.C. is dead and his son is in police custody after a morning of target shooting in the Vancouver Island wilderness turned lethal on Sunday.
A group of five men, all from the same family, were out in the wilderness just west of Nitinat Lake and were planning on doing some target shooting as part of their day, said Island District RCMP spokesman Corporal Darren Lagan.
Just after noon on Sunday one of the men called 911 to report that the 52-year-old had been shot at least twice. Although the group had driven into the wilderness via logging roads, the man was not able to provide the party's exact location and emergency responders started a search.
The group was found five hours later on Somerset Mountain Range after a commercial pilot noticed a signal fire they had built, said Cpl. Lagan. BC Air Ambulance arrived on scene along with the RCMP Air Services, but the injured man was already deceased. The four remaining men were taken to safety while police started a homicide investigation.
The RCMP chopper and crew remained on scene overnight. Lake Cowichan RCMP and the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit, along with the BC Coroner's Service started investigating again early on Monday..
The police have the victim's 22-year-old son in custody. At this point, Cpl. Lagan said, the son seems to be responsible for firing the weapon. It is premature for police to say whether the shooting was intentional or accidental, he said.
"It's very difficult because you have to be understanding and compassionate towards the family for their loss, but at the same time we have a job to do and we have questions that we need to answer," Cpl. Lagan said.
The victim's family has been notified, but police are not identifying him.
"Until charges are laid or not laid I don't want to release the identify of the victim because it will identify [the suspect]" Cpl. Lagan said.