Man shoots dead son-in-law who jumped out of bushes to surprise him for birthday
A man has accidentally shot and killed his son-in-law who had jumped out of bushes during a surprise birthday visit.
Christopher Bergan, 37, had travelled over 7000km from his home in Norway to surprise his father-in-law Richard Dennis for his 61st birthday in Florida.
But when he knocked on the back door of Dennis’ Pensacola home and hid in bushes at about 11.30pm on Tuesday (local time), he was fatally shot by Dennis as he jumped out to surprise him.
Santa Rosa Sheriff Bob Johnson said during a news conference that Mr Bergan, married to Dennis’ daughter Heather, had made a “growling noise” which had scared Dennis.
According to Johnson, Dennis thought the banging noise was from another relative he had gotten into an argument with earlier in the day.
Dennis said Mr Bergan had banged on the door in a similar fashion.
Johnson said no charges would be laid and called the incident a “horrible accident”.
"Anybody who is religious out there, you need to pray for this family," the sheriff said.
"I can't imagine what they're going through... it's horrible,” he said.
With AP
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