VERNON — Authorities are investigating an incident in which a 16-year-old girl shot herself in the leg during a hunting outing Sunday.
Paramedics life-flighted Andrea Wright to Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital in Pensacola for surgery on a gunshot wound of her right leg, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) spokesman Stan Kirkland.
Wright was in serious condition Monday afternoon.
“It’s just a terrible incident for the family, and our thoughts go out to them,” Kirkland said.
Wright was boarding a 4-wheeler around 10 a.m. to go hunting when her 12-gauge shotgun went off and hit her in the leg. The gun was loaded with buckshot, Kirkland said. She was hunting with her uncle, who was nearby when she was shot, and he came to her aid.
The FWC is in the early stages of the investigation, and investigators plan to give Wright a day or two to recover before speaking with her, Kirkland said.
Anyone born on or after June 1, 1975, and over age 16 must complete a hunter safety course before they can get a license to hunt in Florida, but in 2012 the Legislature created an exemption in an effort to encourage people to try the sport. Now hunters can get a license without taking the course if they are hunting under the supervision of a licensed hunter who is at least 21 years old.
It’s not yet clear if Wright had taken a hunter safety course; investigators planned to go through records to determine if she had a license, Kirkland said.
Florida saw 18 hunting incidents between 2002 and 2008, and two were fatal, according to the International Hunter Education Association. Kirkland said the sport has become much safer than it used to be, and it was not uncommon to have five or six fatalities throughout the state in a year.
“Having been here for a long time … hunting today statistically is safer than it was in the ’70s,” he said.
