Swedish hunter accidentally kills Lithuanian tourist

STOCKHOLM

An elderly Swedish hunter shot and killed a Lithuanian whom he mistook for an elk, police in central Sweden said this week.

"The hunter, who was in his 80s, saw something gray move behind a bush and fired at it thinking it was an elk because elks are all gray too," the police spokeswoman in Sundsvall said.

The 41-year-old Lithuanian had been out collecting wild berries with his brother-in-law and a third person and had probably not understood the signs in Swedish warning they were in a hunting zone, the daly tabloid Aftonbladet said Sept. 22.

The man died on the way to hospital and the hunter was being treated for shock and was likely to be charged with manslaughter, the paper said.

There have been several previous cases of elk hunters shooting each other accidentally but the Sept.21 incident was the first time an unsuspecting passer-by had been hit.