A hunter accidentally shot and killed his friend Wednesday afternoon in a wooded area of Oak Hill, Volusia County deputies say.

The sheriff's office said it happened at about 2:11 p.m. in a wooded, swampy area west of Interstate 95 and north of Maytown Road.

Bruce Best, 65, was accidentally shot by Leeshawn Sutton, 56, with a 12-gauge shotgun, deputies said.

Ed Tyler has owned property inside the Oak Hill hunting camps off Maytown Road, just west of I-95 for 25 years.



“I didn’t really hunt with Bruce but I knew him well. He’s been down to my cabin many, many times. He was just one of the old timers, lived in the woods. He was a woodsmen," said Tyler.

The shooting took place about three miles off the road in a wooded, swampy area, which created a challenge for responding deputies.

"Our Air 1 helicopter guided them to the scene. We discovered the victim was deceased and we’re out investigating now to determine what exactly happened and how it occurred, but right now it looks like it was an accident," said Volusia County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Andrew Gant.

A different property owner said a small group of people were hunting deer when the deadly accident took place.

In fact, they had been hunting all week because deer season ends on Sunday.

In the quiet of the woods, hunters tell me wearing orange is sometimes your only protection.

“Most of the time people wear it anyway. They’ll put an orange cap or something on just to be sure they’re seen," Tyler said.

The Sheriff's Office's Major Case Unit is investigating, with assistance from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.