Argument over wounded deer leads to roadside shooting

A bizarre incident along a rural Worcester County stretch involves a fatally struck deer, a car passenger shot twice after stopping to assist and a teen suspect jailed for the shooting two hours into his 18th birthday.

"It is a very strange story," said Detective Sgt. Mike Lupiwok at the Worcester County Bureau of Investigation.

Police investigators are working to piece together circumstances that led to the shooting of a 21-year-old Eden man along the side of Whitesburg and Five Bridges roads in the Pocomoke Forest at about 11 p.m. Friday.

In police custody is Kenny George White of Fruitland, who was 17 and a minor when he allegedly collided with the deer, then twice shot the man who police described as a good Samaritan that stopped at the scene of the collision.

"All this over a deer," the detective asked.

White was charged as an adult by law because the alleged crime involved the commission of a felony involving a firearm, Lupiwok said. A crime of another nature could have exempted White from adult-status charges because he was an hour from his 18th birthday, the detective said.

"It's not a good birthday for him," the detective also said.

The deer lay wounded with two broken hind legs, but died at the scene. Police said the deer was not shot.

The 21-year-old victim was treated at Peninsula Regional Medical Center for injuries to his lower body that was sprayed with bird-shot, or pellets, Lupiwok said.

The victim, whose identity has not been released, was the passenger in a vehicle that stumbled upon the accident involving White and the deer, the detective said.

The victim approached White and an argument relating to the deer ensued, although Lupiwok did not know the details of the disagreement.

The victim was shot as he faced the suspect, then from behind as he ran back to the vehicle in which he was riding, police said. The victim and two companions in the vehicle followed the suspect to obtain a tag number. He was then driven to his residence where he called an ambulance that transported him to the hospital.

The hospital notified Wicomico County authorities, and the case was turned over to Worcester investigators because of the jurisdiction in which the shooting happened.

Fruitland police assisted Worcester investigators in locating White at his residence and conducting a search that led to the finding of a shotgun police believe was used in the shooting.

dgates@dmg.gannett.comOn Twitter@DTDeborahGates