Hunter Fatally Shoots Woman He Believed To Be A Deer

A woman in West New York was fatally shot by a hunter who mistook her for a deer.

Rosemary Billquist was out taking her dogs for a walk in Sherman near the Pennsylvania border on Wednesday when she was shot once by hunter Thomas Jadlowski, according to the New York Daily News. Jadlowski instantly ran to Billquist’s side once he heard her scream and applied pressure to the wound, but she was pronounced dead at a hospital in Erie, according to the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office.

Billquist’s husband, Jamie, took to Facebook on Thanksgiving Day to share the tragic news of his wife’s passing.

“I know she’s touched so many lives with her kindness and would help anyone no matter what,” Billquist’s husband wrote. “[Please] everyone, have thanksgiving with your family’s and enjoy those moments [as] they are precious.”

“I will miss you and love you forever,” he continued, “and I know you dancing in heaven with your momma and all of our friends and family that we have lost.”

Speaking to the Buffalo News on Friday, Jamie noted the incident as an unfortunate accident.

“They tried saving her,” he said. “It was just too bad… It’s horrific. It will be with me the rest of my life.”

https://www.facebook.com/jamie.billquist/posts/1782304318460482?pnref=story

Police claim Jadlowski, 34, believed he saw a deer in a field 200 yards away when he fired the shot at Billquist. He then heard a scream and rushed over to the woman, calling 911 and applying pressure to the gunshot wound. No charges were filed against him, but an investigation into the matter is currently ongoing.

Dale Dunkelberger, a member of the State Department of Environmental Conservation’s hunter education program, told Buffalo News that hunters need to be aware of their surroundings and that there can often be other people on hunting trails.

“Hunters have to understand there are other people using trails, using parks in areas where we as sportsmen hunt,” Dunkelberger told reporters.

“In this case, it appears from what I gathered this was after sunset, and he shouldn’t have been out there hunting after sunset. You’re done. That’s the law.”

The New York Post mentioned that although he was hunting after dark, Jadlowski was in the legal limit to hunt deer at the time.

[Featured Image by Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office]