in hunting accident

Staff Writer

A Lockhart man faces a criminal charge in a hunting accident that killed his friend.

Donald Allen Canupp, 22, of 275 Lockhart Drive, was charged Tuesday by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources with use of firearms in a criminally negligent manner. He has been released from the Union County Jail on $10,000 surety bond.

Canupp's arrest warrant said that on Dec. 31 he entered a wooded area near 674 Howell Road in Jonesville and fired a 30.06 rifle into the woods, which struck Larry Joe Lindler Jr. in the abdomen area. Lindler died at the scene.

At the time of the shooting, Lt. Robert McCullough, DNR spokesman, said Canupp told officers he and Lindler, 48, went into the woods together on Lindler's property to hunt deer.

“They had separated and were going hunting on different parts of the property,” McCullough said. “They ended up coming back to the same spot, about 75 yards apart. One was hunting on one side of the hollow and the other on the other side. What happened next will be investigated for quite a while.”

McCullough said Canupp told officers he fired after seeing movement in the bushes.

According to a Union County Sheriff's Office report, Cpl. Dean Gibson and Deputy Tim Gaston responded to the shooting and found Canupp performing CPR on Lindler. Gibson checked Lindler for a pulse, found he did have one, and Gibson and Canupp continued CPR. They were unable to revive Lindler and when Union County EMS came, medics determined Lindler was dead. Lts. Robbie Hines and Al Black arrived and deputies secured the scene until DNR officers arrived.

At the time of the accident, McCullough said Lindler was dressed in camel-colored overalls and was not wearing an orange hunting safety vest.

McCullough couldn't be reached for comment this morning.