Jan. 07–FORT WALTON BEACH — Officials say that no charges will likely be filed in a Sunday shooting accident that left one man with injuries to the head.
Emergency responders were called at about 3 p.m. after 21-year-old Sean Michael Tolar’s head was grazed by bird shot, according to Stan Kirkland, spokesman with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The Mary Esther man was with four other friends on Spectre Island, one of several small “spoil islands” in Santa Rosa Sound, according to dispatch records. The five men had taken a boat to the island and had set up decoys when the accident occurred.
Kirkland said the five friends were standing close when one of the men, 30-year-old Travis Raymond Julius, swung to shoot at a duck. His ammunition grazed the side of Tolar’s head.
Tolar was alert and conscious when he was taken to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola for his injuries. He was released Monday.
Tolar is the third hunter in the past few months to be injured. Kirkland said a person was seriously injured after they fell from a tree stand during the fall while hunting and broke several vertebrae. A Milton man was killed in late November when he was shot while deer hunting with a friend.
“No charges are anticipated here,” Kirkland said. “Where they were was legal to hunt; they had the official documentation needed. There were no violations. This was a hunting accident.”
Duck hunting season runs from Dec. 7 to Jan. 26. Kirkland said with cooler weather a variety of ducks can be found in the area, including Redheads and Blue Bills.