Stay on top of breaking news!
Sign up for ABC 7 News e-mail alerts.
MCLEAN, Va. - Two Northern Virginia families are heartbroken after a hunter opened fire on two students, mistaking the duo for a deer. It happened at Ferrum College near Roanoke, but both students who were shot are from this area.
A shackled Jason Cloutier is the 31-year-old hunter accused of shooting to death 23-year-old Ferrum College student Jessica Goode of Winchester after thinking she was a deer. Goode was only a month short of graduating.
 |
|
Jessica Goode, 23
|
According to authorities, Goode and 20-year-old Reggie Boudinot of McLean were only a mile off campus, in an open field collecting frogs for biology class Tuesday afternoon, when Cloutier mistook the students for wildlife.
Police say moments after firing one shot from his high-powered rifle, Cloutier heard screams, dropped the rifle and ran to help. Boudinot had been shot in the arm but it was too late for Jessica Gewd.
Boudinot's neighbor Gary Roberson said, "It's a really big shock to hear something like this would happen."
The Robersons have been Boudinot's neighbors for years in a McLean neighborhood. They say they can't imagine the emotional anguish he's going through. You see, according to Boudinot's family, Goode's last words to her classmate before collapsing were, "I'm going to die."
"I just can't get over the fact that they looked like deer and that they were shot at," said Cynthia Roberson. "It's just unbelievable."
 |
|
Regis Boudinot, 20
|
On the same day Cloutier bonded out of jail awaiting the next phase of a tragic story, Ferrum College held a memorial service for Jessica Goode.
Cloutier, who has an extensive criminal record, was not supposed to be hunting on that property. Now, he faces a number of charges including manslaughter.
Email To Friend
ABC 7 News to leave comments on news stories.