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MAYVILLE-There was an outpouring of support at a news conference on Thursday for the family Rosemary Billquist who died from injuries she suffered after being shot by a hunter while walking her dog.
Chautauqua County Sheriff Joe Gerace announced a two count indictment against 34 year-old Thomas Jadlowski on charges of second-degree manslaughter and hunting after hours. Gerace said Jadlowski was allegedly hunting after sunset when he fired one round off striking Billquist in the leg.
“Some wanted us to rush to charge this individual but that wasn’t the appropriate way to handle this,” Gerace said.
The Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office and the The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation were both involved with the investigation
“There’s nothing happy about this,” said Gerace. The Grand jury made a decision that those were the appropriate charges with all of the circumstances involved in this case.
District Attorney Patrick Swanson and Officers from the Department of Environmental Conservation prefaced their comments at the news conference with well-wishes for the Billquist family.
“The community of Sherman was deeply affected by this,” said Patrick Swanson.