A case much like what you described actually occurred many years ago in Mississippi when a guy who was visiting his in-laws, shot and killed a MDWFP Game Warden. The guy had been reportedly night hunting behind his in-laws house when he heard noises in the brush being made by the officer who was trying to catch him. He reportedly fired several times into the brush in an attempt to scare off what he thought was an animal, only to hit the officer. The officer died at the scene and the shooter was later sentenced to 20 years and died in prison.

I remember reading about the incident when my parents lived in Meridian, MS. The shooter was a 20-something and was night hunting on the day after Christmas from his father-in-laws box stand and food plot. He was from the New Orleans area and probably not familiar with the area or locals. Of course I could be wrong, but I seriously doubt he believed a game warden would be chasing through the dark in the woods behind his in-laws house at 10:30 at night. And truth be known, it may have been his FIL the officer was trying to catch.

A very sad and tragic event for all involved.

https://www.odmp.org/officer/154-lake-manager-hilton-h-ike-shoemake

Something doesn't add up here, perhaps it's addressed in the 6 pages of posts but I didn't see it. The original linked story mentions the Pator whas shot "several" times...that's more than 2. I could buy accidental if a person was maybe shot once, but 2-3 times or more? That's not negligent and that's not accidental.

Put me in the camp of thinking there may be more to the story....