GeorgeH Loc: Jonesboro, GA

This from the Washington Post November 24 2017

He thought he saw a deer and fired his pistol. Now his neighbor is dead.

By Marwa Eltagouri November 24 at 5:38 PM

Jamie Billquist and his wife, Rosemary Billquist, who was fatally shot Wednesday in a field behind her house in Sherman, N.Y. (Family photo)
Wednesday was a typical afternoon but an exciting one — Thanksgiving was the next day, and Jamie Billquist and his wife, Rosemary, would partake in one of their favorite traditions: the Turkey Trot.

Rosemary Billquist, 43, got home from work about 5 p.m., and left shortly after to walk the couple’s dogs, Stella and Sugar, near the field behind their Sherman, N.Y., house. Jamie Billquist, 47, stayed at home, watching television.

A little while later, the dogs came racing to the back of the house, barking loudly. Jamie Billquist panicked. He called Rosemary’s cellphone, but she didn’t pick up.

“I thought, ‘Something might’ve happened to Rosemary,’ ” he said. “Maybe she fell.”

As he put his phone down, ambulances showed up outside the house. An EMT who is a friend of Jamie Billquist’s rushed to the field, saying someone had been shot.

Moments later, he learned that it was his wife.

A neighbor, Thomas B. Jadlowski, thought he saw a deer in his back yard 200 yards away and fired a single shot. Then he heard a scream. Realizing he’d shot a person, he ran out to help, Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office officials said in a news release.

Jadlowski, 34, called 911 and applied pressure to Rosemary Billquist’s wound until paramedics arrived, according to the sheriff’s office. The bullet had traveled through her hip and out her back, Jamie Billquist said. He rode with his wife to a University of Pittsburgh Medical Center facility in Erie, Pa., where she was pronounced dead.

“That’s it,” Billquist said with a heavy sigh. “My life has changed. Things are never going to be the same.”

[ A horrible crash, a shattered family and a recovery filled with uncertainty ]

Jadlowski has not been charged and has been cooperating with investigators, officials said. The case will be reviewed by the Chautauqua County district attorney’s office, which will determine whether Jadlowski will face criminal charges. Officials said the shooting occurred less than an hour after sunset, at a time when it’s illegal to hunt, according to the Associated Press.

Sheriff Joe Gerace told the Buffalo News that Jadlowski used a single-shot handgun permissible for deer hunting.

Dale Dunkelberger, master instructor for firearms for the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s h****r education program, told the Buffalo News that shooting after hours and not identifying a target correctly is dangerous.

“H****rs have to understand there are other people using trails, using parks in areas where we as sportsmen hunt,” said Dunkelberger, who called Sherman his old hunting “stomping ground.”

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

Jadlowski could not be immediately reached for comment.

Jamie Billquist still has many questions about the shooting.

“I’m not a h****r, but the law is that [after sunset] is when you’re supposed to be done,” Billquist said. “Supposedly it was 200 yards away. He thought it was a deer, which is hard for me to believe. If you don’t know what it is, why shoot?”

Now, Billquist is unsure how to move on without his wife. The holidays were always a celebratory time for them, as their birthdays were both in January, right after Christmas. They’d been together for 27 years, ever since they met at the Chautauqua Mall in Lakewood, N.Y., in 1990.

“I thought she was a beautiful person. Something drew me to her,” Billquist said of that day with a laugh. “We’ve been together ever since. . . . We decided years ago we didn’t want kids. Just free spirits, I guess, kind of enjoying life and having fun.”

1:29
Woman shot dead by h****r who mistook her for a deer

0:00

Rosemary Billquist, 43, was shot dead by a h****r after going on a walk with her dogs near her home in Sherman, N.Y. the day before Thanksgiving. (WIVB-TV)
The couple moved to Sherman in 2002 — Rosemary Billquist wanted to return to the town where she grew up. They rebuilt her family’s house on Armenian Road, which was significant to Rosemary, who had Armenian roots.

She was an avid runner who competed in marathons and triathlons. The Billquists had planned to run in the YMCA Buffalo Niagara Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning.

[ A crossbow h****r thought he shot a coyote. It was a family dog named Tonka. ]

That morning, Jamie Billquist opened up Facebook, which sent him a reminder of the photos he took with his wife at last year’s event. He wore a pointy Santa hat; she wore a giant grin.


Instead, Billquist spent Thanksgiving planning his wife’s services, wondering how to best commemorate her.

“We always had fun. Just together, or with the dogs. There were so many thousands and thousands of fun stories,” he said.

Like the time Rosemary went out on her lunch break while working at WCA Hospital in Jamestown, N.Y., and saw a man struggling to stand in the hospital parking lot as he waited for a ride. So she decided to install a bench in front of the hospital. She etched a quote onto it: “In a world where you can be anything . . . be kind.”

Billquist remembers hauling the bench into their car and planting it in front of the hospital. He was in his work clothes and she wore a dress, he said.

He remembers her coming home from work some days, exclaiming, “Three more people sat on that bench!”

“She was a private person,” he said. “She did things from the heart. She didn’t want people saying, ‘Oh, good job.’ That just wasn’t like her.”

Now, the bench is covered with tea lights and flowers.

Dozens of friends and family members gathered for a vigil Thursday, singing and praying. Billquist posted a video on Facebook and wrote that the vigil “took his breath away.”


“She touched a lot of lives, she did,” he said, recalling how his wife would go out of her way to say hello to people at the hospital, “just to brighten up their day for a second.”

“She was definitely an angel,“ he said. “That’s for sure.”

Read more:

This is so wrong on several levels.

For openers deer season, as noted above, closes at sundown, and for excellent reasons. You can't identify your target, a touchstone of responsible hunting.

At 200 yards even given good light unless using a scoped rifle identifying a target would be difficult. Yes, I know that pistols can mount scopes, but that doesn't make target ID easier after sunset. With ANY uncertainty the shooter should have stood down.

Apparently criminal charges are being considered. At this moment it would seem that only hunting law violations are in the offing. And of course the shooter's colossal stupidity in taking the shot. The shooter will have to live with the results of his foolish behavior for the rest of his life, which is of little comfort to Mr. Billquist. I wonder what response, if any, the NRA will have. For what its worth, I am a former competitive target shooter, a former h****r, and a FORMER NRA member.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

It's too bad that stupidity is not a criminal offense. This guy should get life.
--Bob

Frank T Loc: New York, NY

Judy another responsible gun owner, enjoying his 2nd amendment rights.
Hope they charge him with manslaughter and send his ass to prison.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

The second amendment grants owning a gun legal. It doesn't grant permission to use it unlawfully or unwisely.

I agree with you on sending him to prison for a considerably long time.
--Bob

dljen Loc: Central PA

Who shoots a deer in his back yard??? This jerk wasn't in the middle of a city, a deer attacking someone, he was in the freaking woods. Deer are common around here and come in your yard, same with Hooterville, NY. And who shoots a deer with a pistol? This man's looney, I feel so sorry for the victim and her family.

Crazy scary. They walk among us...

ken hubert Loc: Missouri

A true tragedy caused by a stupid person.
That said George, since you are in your own words a FORMER Target Shooter, a former H****r and a former NRA MEMBER, are you also a FORMER AUTOMOBILE DRIVER??? More people are k**led in traffic accidents then involves guns. WHERE Is YOU FAUX OUTRAGE about that???
And don't give us that bulls**t about it being "different ". Drunks climb into vehicles every day and night and k**l people. Save your "outrage " for them!

ken hubert Loc: Missouri

Yes you do ( or in your case, roll by us) and THAT IS scary!

ken hubert Loc: Missouri

We know you're stupid. You don't have to keep proving it!

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Donna, more importantly, who shoots at a deer after dark? That should enter into the equation, as well. I was taught to never put one's finger on the trigger unless one was absolutely sure of their target.
--Bob

Texcaster Loc: Queensland

It's a good thing that genius isn't around here at Festivus, he might think he spotted himself some horned kangaroos and a rogue wombat.

dljen Loc: Central PA

This guy is from NY, he knows about hunting, NOBODY shoots in their backyard because it's against the law. People, for the most part, respect not shooting around homes. It's usually the out of state ppl who don't know crap. The yodels come up to their hunting camps, get to drinking and think there are no laws. And yes, you're right, nobody shoots in the dark...because it could be a person. This doesn't make any sense, I wonder whether booze or dope was involved. Heck, around here, deer come up on the porch occasionally, nobody would think of shooting them, if you thought they had rabies or something, you'd call the game commission and they'd capture it.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Donna, I was visiting a friend, who lives a bit north of the Phoenix area. We were having coffee around mid-morning and there was a knock at the back door. The only thing that was interesting was the knock sounded like someone kicking the door, not knocking on it. My friend gets up from the table and comments it's probably the deer. I look out the window and sure enough. There's a deer standing just off the back porch. My friend walks outside. The deer stands there and watches. He takes the hose and fills up a bucket near the back porch. He comes back in the house and the deer goes over to the bucket and get a drink of water. Then calmly walks away.

He doesn't feed the animals, as he doesn't want them to become dependent. But, he does provide water. There's plenty of it around, but one deer likes water in the bucket. Pretty incredible, but fun to watch. Especially, that the deer would knock on the door if the bucket was empty. And, as you mentioned, the deer know the neighborhood is safe. So, they tend to hang out not too far away.
--Bob

GeorgeH Loc: Jonesboro, GA

Ken, I AM outraged by the fools who guzzle a six-pack or two and then hit the road. But before you attempt to foist your tired analogy on us, try to consider the fact that unless you reside in a sizable city and have good public t***sit you are essentially dependent on having a car, or taking a taxi, which is a car? Or would you rather walk everywhere? How's your horse and buggy? Got a goat to pull a cart? How many Hoggers are truly dependent on having a firearm? Eh? Are you? How many times per day or week MUST you use your firearm?

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

One only has to be dependent on a firearm one time. It's not how many times, it's being prepared for that one time, and praying that that one time never happens.
--Bob

ken hubert Loc: Missouri

I use a firearm at least every other day. What is tired is your worn out song and dance about t***sportation, horse and buggy, yadda, yadda, yadda. The only false analogy is yours!
FYI, one is a RIGHT and the other is a PRIVILEGE! Look them up if you're not sure which is which!