A teenager from Pennsylvania was killed by a fatal bullet while he and his girlfriend watched the sunset on a lake in the state park where fishing is permitted.
On Monday, the public prosecutor said an investigation was under way to determine whether the shooting was related to a man wearing fishing gear. The hunter has reportedly turned away, according to the DA.
Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub said Jason Cote, a 2020 high school graduate, was shot at around 5:15 p.m. on Saturday from a lake in Nokamixon State Park, and declared dead on Monday.
His girlfriend heard a bullet before he fell back, and reported seeing a man in an orange jacket and hunting clothes near a gate about 550 feet looking in their direction, Weintraub said, but it is not clear he was involved.
“We want to get to the truth of this,” Weintraub said at a news conference on Monday in which he appealed to the public for any information.
He said, “We do not have any suspects.” “We don’t even know if a crime has been committed yet. But we need to understand how Jason Cat died.”
Weintraub said hunting is permitted in the park and on the day of the Kot shooting.
He said the teenager was shot in the back of his neck and an autopsy is scheduled.
The Kutt family decided to donate the teenager’s organs, something the attorney general praised as a brave decision.
Weintraub said it’s deer season in Pennsylvania, as well as for small games. Saturday was the last day of deer hunt by a muzzeloader, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission. The state’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is warning hunters to be very careful at all times, because others use state parks during the hunting season.
Weintraub stressed that the shooting may have been an accident, and investigators are not prejudging anything in the case and are hoping the public will provide information.
“They were just a young couple, living their entire lives in front of them, trying to enjoy a calm sunset,” Weintraub said.
