Posted on 09/30/2005 4:55:13 AM PDT by lunarbicep
LA CROSSE, Wis. -- Friends and relatives have said their final goodbyes to Wisconsin high school senior Seth Hammes.
Hammes, 17, was out using his camcorder as he explored the woods near Little Falls, Wis., last Saturday when the camera ended up recording his own fatal shooting.
After searchers found his body that night, investigators ran the videotape, which had captured the crack of gunshots, the teen's screams and the voice of the shooter, promising help that never came.
Police said the camcorder was the key to catching the man now charged with reckless homicide, 24-year-old Russell Schroeder. He told police he thought he saw an animal when he fired the shots, and he didn't call for help after seeing Hammes because he feared he would get in trouble.
The funeral service for Hammes was held Thursday.
His uncle, Ed Hammes, described his nephew as a gentle giant, who stood over six feet tall and wore size 17 shoes. He said the teen liked to tinker with the family's lawn mowers and research fireworks, but mostly he was someone who would go out of his way to help another.
Schroeder was being held on $250,000 bond. If convicted, he faces up to 85 years in prison.
Didn't call for help = guilty.
Send this guy away forever.
How does a big like like this get confused for an animal? Prayers up for this family.....
THOUGHT he saw an animal? Idiot with a gun.
"he didn't call for help after seeing Hammes because he feared he would get in trouble"
Well, he sure as hell did...
Shades of my own mis-spent youth. What a shame. How can one be so inhumane to leave another person to die just because one is afraid of getting in trouble?
I wouldn't be able to send him away forever just based on the information here.
If you are a hunter you already know the answer to that question. There are people in the woods during hunting season who can't tell the difference between a deer and a pickup truck.
disgusting coward
He told police he thought he saw an animal when he fired the shots...
And what animal would that be? The only large game in Wisconsin is deer and it sure as hell isn't deer season.
We used to live in upstate NY and cows would get shot by the city folk.....bottom line if you wander the woods during hunting season wear orange
This idiot should go to jail just being STUPID! Stupidity and guns don't mix and I fear there are way too many more like him out there. Safe hunting to all you responsible hunters.
Prayers for this kid's family. They must be miserable right now.
The anti-2nd nuts love stories like this.
Evidence of an individual who acted solely in his own self-interest. Seth's cries for help will haunt him for the rest of his life.
May God comfort and care for Seth's family...
I'd say this article is a bit lacking in details.
I do not allow hunting on my property. I well understand why anyone would hunt and kill for survival, but I do not understand how anyone could derive pleasure from killing and subjecting animals to pain and terror.
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