12-year-old shot dead by uncle during tragic hunting accident in Minnesota

A 12-year-old was fatally shot during a hunting accident in Minnesota.

The boy was wounded by his uncle while hunting squirrels, the Cass County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement shared on Facebook this week. He survived the 9 October tragic accident and was airlifted to receive medical care but later succumbed to his injuries.

His sister, Salina Her, identified him as Jeremy Her, a happy boy who “love[d] eating hot Cheetos and Korean spicy noodles,” on a GoFundMe page created to cover funeral costs.

“... my little brother was shot right behind his left ear and rushed to the hospital. He was then put on life support because he was pronounced brain-dead upon arrival,” Ms Her wrote. “The doctor couldn’t save his life due to the bullet hitting his spinal cord and causing him to bleed out inside. At [9.50]pm my parents decided to pull the plug on his life support.”

The sheriff’s department said that deputies received a report of a hunting accident in Moose Lake Township around 8.20am on Sunday.

Deputies learned when they arrived at the scene that a family had been hunting in the area and that a 47-year-old man accidentally shot Jeremy. Officers provided first aid until the boy was taken to a nearby roadway to meet paramedics.

He was then transported by helicopter to a Twin Cities area hospital with serious life-threatening injuries and died that same day.

“[A review] indicates that the incident is a result of a hunting accident and remains under investigation. Assisting on the scene were Motley Fire and Rescue, North Memorial Ambulance and Air Care,” a statement by police read.

Ms Her wrote on the GoFundMe page that her brother was just a few months shy of turning 13.

“Now we have to spend the holiday[s] without him and his birthday will be the hardest,” she wrote. “We kept hoping that maybe this was a dream and we’ll wake up from it all but his presence is missed, we miss his voice and his laughter.”