Man dies in apparent hunting accident in Frederick Co.

Maryland Natural Resources Police Officer Christopher Warden was headed south on U.S. 15 to check out a hunting hot-spot in Dickerson when his radio suddenly squawked to life.

Within seconds, Warden’s truck was swinging around, its powerful engine roaring back north toward Sabillasville where emergency medical units and Frederick County sheriff’s deputies were racing to help a 32-year-old hunter suffering from a gunshot wound. Grabbing his radio, Warden relayed his location to dispatchers, then reached over to activate his vehicle’s overhead lights and sirens.

“I’m going to start out to that just because it might be a hunting accident,” he told the dispatchers and responding units alike before keying off the radio to guide his truck through a winding stretch of Md. 550, both hands firmly on the wheel.

“We’re pretty close, so we can check it out,” he said, his levelheadedness belying the shattered calm of what began as a relatively quiet opening day to the state’s firearm hunting season just a few hours before.

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