A 22-year-old Ketchikan man was killed Sunday in what Alaska State Troopers are calling an accidental shooting.

In an online dispatch, troopers wrote they received a report that Samson Mullenax was injured by a gun at a gravel pit off Brown Mountain Road, in Ketchikan.

Trooper spokesperson Megan Peters said the pit is often used as a shooting range, and at the time Mullenax was shot he was with about six people who had gone to the area to shoot.

"The weapon was being handled by a person in the group and it discharged,"Peters said.

Mullenax was taken to the PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center by friends, where he was later pronounced pronounced dead. Peters would not specify where Mullenax was shot, but said he was shot with a small-caliber handgun.

Troopers said it appears the shooting was accidental. An investigation remains ongoing. Peters said drugs and alcohol do not appear to be a factor, although a toxicology screening will be done as part of the investigation -- a standard practice.

"At this time, everyone involved has been cooperative with troopers," Peters said.