A 17-year-old hunter died after lightning struck him in a tree stand near Bernice, Louisiana.
The coroner’s office pronounced Colton Honeycutt dead at the scene, according to a Union Parish Sheriff’s Office news release posted Oct. 19.
“He perished in a very freakish act of nature yesterday while hunting,” Colton’s uncle, Craig Honeycutt, wrote in a Facebook post. “Details keep coming in slowly, but more will be known soon and arrangements are incoming.”
It was around 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 18 when the police and fire departments responded to an “injured person” call near the community of Weldon.
Upon arrival, first responders were taken to Honeycutt’s tree stand.
“Investigators believe Honeycutt was killed by a lightning strike when thunderstorms moved through the area, just before sunset Saturday evening,” the sheriff’s office wrote Oct. 19.
17-year-old Colton Gauge Honeycutt of Monroe was killed after what investigators believe was a lightning strike while deer hunting near Bernice Saturday evening.
Read more on involvedinitall: 👉 https://t.co/AW9CFzaTjR
— InvolvedInItAll (@involvedinitall) October 20, 2025
The Union Parish Sheriff’s Office said the incident remains under investigation.
Meanwhile, Honeycutt’s uncle asked for prayers.
“Colton did not have it easy and had his issues, but he was loved and family did what they could for him while he was on this earth. We humanly know not why things happen as they do. We can only lean on and trust in the Lord. Please remember and pray for our family,” Honeycutt wrote on Facebook.
“We are shocked, heart broken, and saddened by this sudden loss,” he added.
This is Colton Gauge Honeycutt, 17. He was killed in an apparent lightning strike while hunting in Union Parish on Saturday. RIP, young man. 🕊 pic.twitter.com/4rKzS43lRR
— KTBS (@KTBS) October 20, 2025
The chances of being struck by lightning are less than one in a million, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But it does happen: From 2006 through 2021, there were 444 lightning strike deaths reported in the U.S.
Males are four times more likely than females to be struck, and the age of the average victim was 37 years old.
According to the CDC, Florida is the country’s “lightning capital,” where more than 2,000 injuries occurred in the last 50 years.
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