A Russian millionaire politician fatally shot a man he says he mistook for a bear. Igor Redkin, 55, told local media that he had heard there was a bear at the rubbish dump and fired his gun with the intention to scare the animal away. He later learned that a local resident was wounded in the area at about the same time. The victim, identified as 30-year-old Andrei Tolstopyatov, was rushed to a local hospital where he succumbed to injuries.

“A tragedy occurred on August 2 in which I, Igor Vladimirovich Redkin, became an unwitting participant.  In the evening, I learned that a bear was wandering around a landfill in the village of Ozernovsky and was threatening local residents. I took a gun and decided to scare it away. I shot at the bear at dusk. I later learned that a local resident was wounded in the area around the same time and died in the hospital,” Redkin said in a statement to the local Kam24.ru news website.

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Redkin, who is a member of the ruling United Russia, has withdrawn his re-election campaign to the Kamchatka assembly in next month’s vote. He is also the co-owner of several large businesses in the Kamchatka peninsula. He said in the statement he had “made up his mind and was prepared to accept the punishment that the court will determine”.

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He has left President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party and will spend the next two months under house arrest during the investigation.

Redkin has been ranked by Forbes as the country’s 20th richest public official with a net worth of 715.7 million rubles ($9.7 million).

If found guilty, Redkin could face lesser charges of involuntary slaughter and could face two years imprisonment.