Willard coach's death one of three fatal hunting incidents in Missouri

The investigation is ongoing, but a conservation department official says a Willard hunter likely stumbled on the ground and accidentally shot himself during the opening weekend of Missouri's firearms deer season.

The body of Willard assistant coach Justin Atchison, 24, was found Saturday by his father after Atchison sent his dad a text saying "trip, fall, accident," according to a report by KY3.

Atchison's father rushed to the location where his son had been hunting from a tree stand and found his son had died.

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"He did not fall out of his tree stand, he got out of the tree stand to go look for a deer," said Jason Dickey, Southwest Regional Protection Supervisor with the Missouri Department of Conservation. "The investigation is ongoing, and we're still trying to figure out exactly how it happened. But it appears he stumbled and fell and somehow his rifle discharged and hit him."

Dickey said it will be several days before a final report on how the accident occurred will be finished.

Atchison's death was one of three that occurred during the opening weekend of deer season.

According to Missourinet, the Macon County Sheriff’s Department in northern Missouri is investigating a rifle that allegedly went off accidentally, killing an Illinois hunter Sunday afternoon near Atlanta, Missouri. According to a press release, Charles Bark, 70, and other hunters were preparing to go hunting when one of the hunter's rifles discharged, striking Bark.

Missourinet also reported that an eastern Missouri man was killed in northeast Missouri while getting ready to go hunting. St. Louis television station KMOV reports that Randell Reising, 52, of Arnold, was shot in the chest by a hunting friend at a cabin near Lewiston.

Across the border in Arkansas, authorities are investigating how a deer hunter shot and killed a 72-year-old woman.

The Johnson County Sheriff's Office got the call at 1:43 p.m. Sunday. The woman was found dead near the town of Oark in northern Johnson County.

The woman's body has been sent to the Arkansas state crime lab for an autopsy.

According to the sheriff, once the investigation is complete, it will be sent to the 5th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney for review of any possible criminal charges.

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