Man charged with negligent homicide in fatal shooting of hunter in Grand County

Police lights

Harry Watkins, 52, has been charged with criminally negligent homicide for fatally shooting a member of his hunting party this month, 26-year-old Simon Jacob Howell of West Virginia.

The shooting happened on Nov. 9 in a remote area west of Kremmling in Grand County.

The group of hunters called the Grand County Sheriff’s Office just before 10 a.m. to report that one of their members had shot another.

Hunter found fatally shot near Kremmling

Howell was discovered in the southern portion of Game Management Unit 27 hours later, Colorado Parks and Wildlife said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Watkins’ charge is a Class 5 felony. His first advisement is scheduled for Dec. 22.

CPW is working with the sheriff’s office, the District Attorney’s Office, the coroner and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to investigate the circumstances around Howell’s death.

Colorado’s hunter education is responsible for low fatality rates

Previously, Colorado’s last hunter fatality was on Nov. 5, 2018 also in Grand County.

The state has averaged less than one hunter fatality per year since it began requiring mandatory hunter education in 1970.

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