A hunter who shot dead a woman on Thanksgiving eve and claimed he mistook her for a deer has been charged with manslaughter and hunting after hours.
Thomas Jadlowski, 34, is accused of killing 43-year-old neighbor Rosemary Billquist while she was out walking her dogs in upstate New York around 5.30pm Wednesday last week.
Jadlowski pleaded not guilty as prosecutors accused him of dangerous and reckless conduct, saying he ‘fired a shot in the dark, causing this terrible tragedy.’
Thomas Jadlowski, 34, has been charged with manslaughter after he shot and killed 43-year-old neighbor Rosemary Billquist on Thanksgiving eve as she walked her dogs
Ms Billquist (pictured with husband Jamie) was walking her Labradors in a field behind her house in Sherman, upstate New York, when she was shot by a high-powered pistol and died
His bail was set at $150,000 as he appeared at Chautauqua County Court Thursday.
Rosemary Billquist, a hospital worker and hospice volunteer, was killed by a .35-caliber round from a high-powered hunting pistol fired from about 200 yards away.
Billquist had been walking her two yellow Labradors in a field behind her home in Sherman on November 22.
Jadlowski pleaded not guilty as he was accused of causing Billquist’s death by taking ‘a shot in the dark’
Jadlowski heard Billquist’s scream after she was shot, ran to her aid, and applied pressure to the wound until medics arrived.
Billquist was taken to UPMC Hamot hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania, where she was pronounced dead.
Sheriff’s officials said Jadlowski has been cooperating with investigation.
Jamie Billquist, Rosemary’s husband who met his wife in 1990, said she was was a loving and selfless woman.
‘She was always out to help somebody. She never wanted credit and was always quiet about it,’ he told The Buffalo News. ‘She’s just an angel. An angel for sure.’
Billquist was a volunteer at Chautauqua Hospice and at UPMC Chautauqua WCA Hospital, where she worked performing medical transcription.
‘She could have done so much more,’ he said. ‘Her life was cut way too short.’
Friends and co-workers on Thursday night held a vigil, decorating a bench she donated to the hospital with electric tea lights, a yellow Lab stuffed animal and flowers.
‘They sang and prayed,’ her husband said. ‘It was amazing. It was a community thing. I was blessed to be able to share it.’
Jamie said that his wife ‘was always out to help somebody. She never wanted credit and was always quiet about it. She’s just an angel. An angel for sure’
Courtesy: WIVB