A hunting accident has claimed the life of a Johnson City man.
Johnson County Sheriff Mike Reece said 62-year-old Roy Carson
Emert died Saturday after a pistol he carried discharged and the
bullet struck him in the chest. Reece said two other hunters found Emert lying on the ground near his pickup near Watauga Lake. The driver’s door was still open and the pistol was found on the ground near Emert’s feet. The sheriff said Emert was bowhunting deer, but a friend told deputies the victim carried the pistol for protection from bears. Reece said Emert might have been trying to put the weapon into his hunting bib when it discharged. An autopsy was requested.