A 13-year-old boy was shot, and later died from his injuries, while hunting on Sunday afternoon in Oddar Meanchey province’s Thnol Keng village when his friend mistook him for a deer.

So Sen, Trapaing Prasat district deputy police chief, said the victim’s family declined to file charges, but because the case is criminal, police will still file court documents.

According to Sen, the boys had been trapping animals in the forest, 1 kilometre from the village where they lived, when Muth Puth, 15, mistook his friend for an animal and fired a shot into 13-year-old Lim Leath’s right thigh.

In tears, the older boy ran to find Leath’s father, and together they returned to the forest, where Chhim Lim, 40, recalled he found his young son drained of colour and “bleeding profusely”.

Leath was taken to Trapaing Prasat District Referral Hospital, but doctors did not have adequate surgical equipment or blood to operate, and the boy died before reaching Oddar Meanchey Provincial Hospital.

According to Chhim Lim, the boys were inseparable, and he would not press charges, explaining: “He did not want to hurt my son.”

However Muth Puth’s father Muth Sarmean, 54, said while it was an accident, his son should still face punishment following the funeral.

“I will not let my son to escape from the legal responsibility,” he said