DETROIT LAKES, — Prosecutors have charged a hunter with manslaughter for fatally shooting a former police chief in a rural part of northwestern Minnesota.

The Becker County Attorney’s office on Thursday charged 54-year-old Morris Silas Dodd Jr. of rural Ogema with one count of second-degree manslaughter.

According to the complaint, Dodd acknowledged hunting in the area where 53-year-old former Lake Park police chief Jay Clayton Nelson was found dead of a single gunshot in his vehicle on Nov. 10.

Dodd told investigators he fired a shot to “spook” a fawn, but denied seeing a vehicle or shooting at any vehicle or victim.

Tests determined a shell casing found several hundred yards from Nelson’s vehicle and the bullet recovered from his body were fired from Dodd’s rife.

Dodd is due in court Friday.