NC hunter gets probation for soldier’s death

FAYETTEVILLE, NC (AP) — A North Carolina man has been placed on probation for the shooting death of a Fort Bragg soldier last year in a hunting accident.

The Fayetteville Observer reported that a federal magistrate on Tuesday sentenced Allen Eugene Thompson of Vass to one year of probation and a loss of hunting privileges for five years.

Thompson pleaded guilty earlier this year to shooting 33-year-old Capt. Jeremiah Sipes on New Year’s Day last year on a trail on the Fort Bragg border in Hoke County.

Thompson had been charged with criminally negligent hunting resulting in a death.

Heather Sipes says she’s forgiven Thompson and wishes he had received a lesser sentence. She says her husband had gone for a run on the trail when he was shot.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)