He shot trying to catch a hare, but actually hitting a father who was walking in the garden with his 4-month-old son in his arms.
An episode that could have ended in tragedy the one that happened on Sunday afternoon in Fossalta di Piave, a town in the Venetian area on the border with Monastier di Treviso.
Fortunately, the injuries reported by the man were superficial, to the nose and cheekbone, while the newborn has a small excoriation on the chest, under a nipple, but nothing serious.
The facts shortly after 3 pm, in a quiet country lane. Francesco lets his wife rest in the bedroom and takes the baby out into the garden, placing it in a sash, to soak up some sun.
"We live in the open countryside - he says when interviewed by the Messenger - there are other houses close to ours, but it is a secluded area, which in recent weeks is filled with hunters. On Sunday morning, here is a continuous coming and going of hunters with their dogs. Sunday afternoon, usually, there is no one left. That's why the other day I didn't notice those two hunters who were crossing the field in front of our house; when I heard the shot and felt the rain of pellets falling all around me, it was too late to take cover. I felt the burns and I started screaming like a madman, the little one burst into a desperate cry, the first thought is that he had been hit " .
“I was upstairs, but I clearly heard the shot - adds his wife Ilaria -, followed by the screams of Francesco and the child. I flew down, I immediately took the baby inside and we stripped him, to make sure he wasn't hit. We could no longer calm him down ”.
The couple then alerted 112 and in the meantime, while awaiting the arrival of a Carabinieri patrol, the man blocked the two hunters, who - instead of making sure that no one had been hit - were already reaching their car, to get away quickly from the place.
(Unioneonline / vl)
