A 22-year-old man is recovering in hospital after accidently being shot twice by his friend.
The man was camping by the Nitinat River near Lake Cowichan on Saturday when his companion was woken up by what he thought was a black bear trying to get into the tent.
The man shot off a gun filled with several bird shot rounds – which are made up of pellets – in the direction of the noise but in the process he shot his friend twice – once in the face and once in the arm.
"He was startled by what he thought was a bear and it was kind of an instinctual thing," said Const. Grant Desmet from the Lake Cowichan RCMP. "With the bird shot rounds there are pellets and the pellers spray in different directions."
The injured man is in stable condition at Victoria General Hospital with non-life threatening injuries and police continue to investigate the incident.
According to Desmet, it's not uncommon for people who are camping in the area to have firearms in case they run into wildlife.
