Months after a Colleton County man and his 9-year-old daughter were killed in a hunting accident, authorities have filed charges against the fellow hunter they say mistook them for deer and opened fire.

Sean Peterson, a 30-year-old Colleton County resident, faces two counts of negligent use of a firearm while engaged in hunting that resulted in death. If convicted of the misdemeanor, he faces up to three years in prison for each count.

Investigators with the state Department of Natural Resources said the three hunters were trying to drive deer near Walterboro on New Year’s Day.

Thirty-year-old Kim Drawdy and his daughter Lauren were taking advantage of the last day of deer season when Peterson saw movement and opened fire, thinking the father and daughter were deer, DNR spokesman Robert McCullough said.

NEWS