Police: Man confronting bear accidentally kills brother

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — Authorities say a man in Oregon trying to protect his home from a bear instead fatally shot his brother by mistake, then killed himself.

Josephine County Undersheriff Travis Snyder said the man called 911 around 7 a.m. Tuesday and told dispatchers he had “accidentally shot his brother while loading a gun” after being startled by the bear.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports deputies went to the home in Sunny Valley, an unincorporated community off Interstate 5 in the southwest corner of the state. There they found a man dead from a gunshot wound.

Snyder said they checked the rural residence and found a second man dead. He had died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Sheriff’s officials did not immediately identify either man.

Oregon State Police and local deputies continue to investigate the shootings.