Boy mistaken for deer and shot dead by allegedly drunk hunters in remote Siberia

A boy has been shot dead by a group of allegedly drunk hunters who mistook him for a deer.

Ruslan Gaus was killed after a member of the hunting party allegedly opened fire on what he believed was a roe deer near the village of Mezhdurino in Russia’s Kemerovo region in remote Siberia.

Authorities claim the group — made up of two businessmen and a football coach — had been drinking before the shooting.

Investigators say Ruslan, 17, and another teenager were riding mopeds when they heard a vehicle approaching and believing it was police, left the road and hide in nearby bushes.

Moments later, one of the hunters allegedly spotted a silhouette through a thermal imaging sight and fired a shot, killing the teenager.

The three men reportedly fled the scene before later handing themselves in to police.

Russian authorities have launched a murder investigation and say detectives have identified three men allegedly involved in the incident.

“The involvement in the murder of three men has been established, one of whom, while hunting, deliberately fired a shot in the direction of the victim,” investigators said.

Ruslan’s devastated girlfriend Violetta Parushkina demanded justice after the killing.

“A tragedy struck my family during the night — my boyfriend, Ruslan Gaus, was shot dead,” she wrote on social media.

“Law enforcement officers detained those responsible within 24 hours.”

Violetta called for those responsible to receive the maximum punishment available under the law.

“I want to make this public so that those responsible receive the full punishment to the fullest extent of the law,” she said.

The three men remain under investigation.