Authorities probe man's shooting death on Nantou trail

Taipei, Nov. 28 (CNA) Authorities are investigating an incident this week in which a man was fatally shot as he returned from changing the battery of a wildlife surveillance camera in a remote mountainous area of Nantou County.

The Nantou Police Department's Ren'ai Precinct said the shooting occurred late Tuesday night, after the victim, a 50-year-old Indigenous man surnamed Chang (張), and two Indigenous companions went to change the battery of a Formosan black bear surveillance camera.

On the return trip, about three kilometers from the Ganzhuowan Peaks trailhead in the direction of Sanlailing Mountain Forest Road, Chang was struck in the head by a bullet, for reasons that are still being investigated, the precinct said.

Following the incident, Chang's companions notified the police, who found him dead after dispatching a search team to the area early Wednesday.

Multiple news outlets reported Thursday that Chang was a member of a local organization that receives government funding to carry out Formosan black bear conservation work.

His shooting may have been caused by an accidental discharge of his own gun, an Indigenous hunting rifle that he had brought into the woods with him, the reports said.

According to the report, Chang was walking behind his friends at the time of the shooting. Upon hearing the gunshot, they rushed back to find him on the ground, struck by a bullet that had gone through his nostril up into the back of his head.

Chang's companions have been listed as witnesses, rather than suspects in the shooting, pending a forensic examination on Thursday and an autopsy scheduled for Friday to determine his cause of death, authorities said.