A hiker in Missouri is in serious condition after being "mistaken for a turkey" and shot by a hunter, reports NBC News.
In a statement posted to Facebook, officials said they responded just before 12:30 p.m. on Saturday to a hunter-related incident on the Lewis and Clark Trail at the August A. Busch Memorial and Weldon Spring Conservation Area.
Though it certainly sounds like a mistake, "hunter-related incident" is an interesting turn of phrase. Police typically describe police shootings as "officer-involved" to discourage plain language such as "shot by police" in reportage. But in this case a potential suspect (cf. Chai Vang) is getting the pre-emptive benefit of the so-called "exonerative tense" in a police press release.
