New York Woman Shot by Hunter While Walking Dogs
OutdoorHub Reporters 11.27.17
It was a later night for Rosemary Billquist, when she and her yellow Labs went for a walk after returning home from work around 5:30 p.m.
According to NY Times, it was already getting dark when Rosemary, Sugar, and Stella set out for their walk, and then, around 15 or 20 minutes later, Sugar and Stella came running back, but Rosemary was nowhere in sight.
Jamie, Rosemary’s husband, had stayed behind, and he immediately found the dogs behavior alarming.
“They obviously knew something happened,” Mr. Billquist reportedly said in an interview. “And I’m thinking to myself, ‘This isn’t right.'”
But before he could even get out the door, Mr. Billquist saw an ambulance driving down the street. There had been a shooting, and the victim was his wife.
Officials say Ms. Billquist, 43, was walking when a neighbor, Thomas B. Jadlowski, thought he saw deer. He brought up his single-shot pistol, and fired across a field.
NY Times reports Mr. Jadlowski “heard a scream, and then ran 200 yards where he found Ms. Billquist with a gunshot wound.” He called 911 and applied pressure to her wound until medical help arrived. However, she was pronounced dead at the hospital in Erie, Pa, the Chautaugua County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Mr. Jadlowski, 34, fired his gun after shooting hours were over, and it’s illegal to hunt deer after dark, the statement reads.
“I’m not looking for vengeance, and I know Rosemary’s not either,” Mr. Billquist said. “There’s got to be some kind of lesson.”
That lesson, rings loud and clear: ALWAYS confirm your target before pulling the trigger.
