A teen was killed while hunting and officials are classifying it as a hunting accident. The death of this teen is very tragic. And, it makes it even more tragic when officials classify it as a hunting accident.

This teen was not killed in a hunting accident, he was killed by poachers. Murder, not hunting accident seems a better description of the heinous act. The teen was hunting and someone fired a shot from a rifle, out of a truck at decoys and struck the teen. That is not a hunting accident, but murder if you ask me.

Teen hunter shot, killed
ESU freshman would have turned 19 today
By Phil Anderson
The Capital-Journal
Published Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Beau Arndt, a "good kid" from rural Americus who enjoyed being outdoors and participating in sports, would have celebrated his 19th birthday today.

Instead, his parents are making arrangements for his funeral on Thursday in Emporia amid unanswered questions about the shooting that claimed his life.

CONTRIBUTIONS

Contributions to a memorial fund in Beau Arndt's honor can be sent to Roberts-Blue-Barnett Funeral Home, 605 State, Emporia, KS 66801. Funds will be used to benefit hunter safety courses.
Arndt, an Emporia State University freshman, died early Saturday when he was shot in what Lyon County sheriff's authorities are calling a hunting accident northwest of Americus.

By late Monday afternoon, it was unknown who shot Arndt and if the person who fired the fatal round knew he had wounded anyone.

The shooting remains under investigation, and Lyon County sheriff's officials continue searching for a late 1970s-model Ford pickup truck with a red cab and burnt orange bed as a "vehicle of interest."

The truck, which had a Shawnee County license tag, had been seen in the area at the time of the shooting incident.

Authorities said the shooting took place at about 8:25 a.m. Saturday while Arndt and two friends were goose hunting near 3100 D Road in a rural area of northwest Lyon County.

The site is about 13 miles northwest of Emporia.

The hunting party, which had permission to be on the property, put several dozen goose decoys in a field and were lying in the snow waiting for geese.

A truck drove by and fired a rifle shot at the decoys, officials said. The shot struck Arndt instead, and the truck left the area.

Emergency responders were unable to revive Arndt, who was pronounced dead at the scene by the Lyon County coroner.

On Monday, Lyon County Sheriff Gary Eichorn said he had been to Topeka on Sunday to visit with law enforcement officials here regarding the case.

"We're following leads," Eichorn said. "We're trying to locate the vehicle that was seen in the area."

Eichorn said the Lyon County Sheriff's Department was starting to get some phone calls on the case, noting the vehicle is "pretty unique" and that it "ought to stand out."

Before the shooting, a woman who lives in the area reported seeing the truck with a flat tire, Eichorn said.

The woman, who lives about three miles from where the shooting took place, said the truck's occupants changed the tire near her residence.

Two of the truck's occupants appeared to be men in their 40s and the other was a man in his 20s, Eichorn said.

A previous report had four occupants in the truck, but the number was adjusted to three after the woman was re-interviewed on Sunday.

Though it is illegal to shoot a firearm from inside a vehicle and to hunt geese with a rifle, Eichorn said he didn't believe the person who fired the weapon knew he had wounded anyone.

On Monday afternoon, Bob Arndt, Beau's father, said he hoped the shooter wasn't aware he had hit his son.

"We don't know," Arndt said. "I hope they didn't know."

Arndt said his son had been hunting since he was a child and had been through several hunter safety courses.

Beau graduated in May from Northern Heights High School at Allen, where he played baseball. He also played baseball his freshman through junior years at Emporia High School.

"He loved everybody," his father said. "Everyone who knew him loved him."

Arndt said his son enjoyed teaching hunting skills to friends and "helping them get their first turkeys." He also helped coach kids' sports teams.

Beau was pursuing a biology degree at Emporia State and eventually wanted to go to Canada to be an outdoor guide.

"He was out doing something he loved," Arndt said. "Somebody doing something that was illegal cut his life short."

Arndt said Beau was a lifelong resident of the Americus area and knew all the landowners.

He had permission to hunt on "thousands of acres" of nearby farmland.

He said his son and his friends had set up decoys many times like they did on Saturday.

Besides his parents, Bob and Christine Arndt, Beau is survived by his brother, Seth, and his sister, Annabelle, both of the home. Both siblings are younger than Beau.

"They're coping well," their father said. "They're good kids. Everybody we know and our kids are good kids. I mean that truthfully."

Arndt said the outpouring of support from the Americus and Emporia communities has been "overwhelming."

State officials said Beau Arndt's death was Kansas' first hunting-related fatality since 2005.

Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at the Harvest House of the Flint Hills Christian Church, 1836 E. US-50 highway in Emporia.

Burial will be in the Fruitland Cemetery west of Americus.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the Lyon County Sheriff's Department at (620) 342-5545, Lyon County Crime Stoppers at (620) 342-CARE or (800) KS-CRIME.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.