Man shooting at skunk accidentally kills ATV driver riding nearby, Utah officials say
A Utah man is accused of shooting at a skunk on his property and accidentally hitting someone driving a utility task vehicle, or UTV, nearby, officials said.
The man in the UTV later died, court documents said.
Darren James Ence, 39, is scheduled to be arraigned on a charge of negligent homicide on Dec. 10. An attorney hadn’t been listed for him in court records as of the morning of Dec. 2.
Ence was getting his trailer ready for a camping trip on Oct. 4 in Elsinore when he shot at a skunk on his property, a Sevier County Sheriff’s Office detective wrote in a probable cause statement.
After Ence shot the skunk, he noticed dust from a UTV in a field to the north of his property and drove over in his own UTV, the document said.
“DJ told us that when he arrived, he found an elderly man slumped over from the driver’s seat to the passenger seat. There was also an elderly woman in the passenger seat,” the detective wrote, noting that Ence called 911.
“The woman told DJ that they heard a loud boom, which sounded like a gunshot, the back window of the UTV broke, and the man fell into her lap,” the detective wrote.
Ence realized he’d shot the man, officials said.
The man was flown to a hospital and died the next day, officials said. The identity of the man who died has not been publicly released.
Ence, who admitted he’d been drinking, told officials that he didn’t see or hear the UTV and had his truck and generator running as he prepared for his camping trip, court documents said.
Elsinore is a 170-mile drive south of Salt Lake City.
This story was originally published December 2, 2024 at 12:42 PM with the headline "Man shooting at skunk accidentally kills ATV driver riding nearby, Utah officials say."
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