Fatal shootings involving nonhunters rare in Virginia

Roanoke (WBQB/WFVA/AP)  -- Fatal hunting-related shootings in which a nonhunter is a victim are rare in Virginia.   Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries spokeswoman Julia Dixon says none of the 39 firearms-related fatalities recorded since 1998 involved a nonhunter.   A Ferrum man faces manslaughter and other charges after authorities say he fired at a group of Ferum Ccollege students he mistook for a deer on Tuesday. One student was killed and the other was wounded.  While hunting related-shootings involving nonhunters are rare, Capt. Bobby Mawyer with the department says a hunter mistaking a person for an animal isn't.      According to the department's figures, 17 of the fatal shootings since 1998 involved a hunter shooting at what he thought was an animal.