KEY POINTS:
A decision is expected to be made this week on whether any criminal charges will be laid over the accidental fatal shooting of a young hunter reportedly by his girlfriend's father.
Aron Colin Timms, aged 18, died instantly after being shot in the chest, when he was mistaken for a deer at Tarawera off the Napier-Taupo Highway on March 15. He would have been 19 the following day.
He had been on a hunting expedition with his girlfriend's father Garth Porter and others.
After the shooting, a distraught Mr Porter drove 12km to the nearest house to raise the alarm.
His daughter Nicole and Aron had known each other for three years.
The couple's parents live only a few streets away from each other in Napier and are close friends.
In a statement yesterday, they said Aron's loss was a terrible tragedy that had devastated not only Aron's family, but also Nicole's.
They said that the young couple shared a great love of the outdoors and had been on many hunting, duck shooting and fishing trips with their families and had recently prepared a maimai for the coming duck shooting season.
The two families were setting up a trust for pupils at Aron's old school Taradale High so they could experience the outdoors that he loved so much.
Aron was farwelled at a service at the Napier War Memorial Centre on Thursday attended by relatives and friends.
A police spokesman said that inquiries were still continuing into the shooting and a decision on whether to lay charges against anyone was like to be made this week.
- NZPA
