CHIBA (Kyodo) Police arrested a member of a hunters group on suspicion of professional negligence after he shot to death a fellow hunter Sunday during a cull of monkeys in Kimitsu, Chiba Prefecture.
Suminori Maeda, a 51-year-old resident of Kimitsu, shot Masayoshi Murakoshi, 72, also from Kimitsu, at around 9:30 a.m. in a mountain forest.
Murakoshi was immediately taken to a hospital but was later pronounced dead, police said.
Maeda told investigators he shot Murakoshi after mistaking him for a monkey.
Murakoshi was rushing to join other members of the group on hearing that monkeys had been sighted, the police said.