A 32-year-old hunter died during a hunting trip in northern Turkey on November 27, 2022, after a shotgun discharged near a vehicle in the Alaçam district of Samsun Province. Later Turkish reports said a hunting dog’s paw contacted the trigger of a gun carried by one of the victim’s companions. The detail has often been shortened online to “a dog shot its owner,” but the available reporting is more complicated.
The victim and the reported sequence
The victim was identified as Özgür Gevrekoğlu, a resident of Alaçam. Contemporary local reports said he had gone hunting with four friends near the Kızlan Plateau. As the group returned to their vehicles, a shotgun fired and pellets struck Gevrekoğlu. Emergency responders pronounced him dead at the scene.
A report carried by Yeni Şafak and attributed to the İhlas News Agency said a companion, identified only by the initials K.G., bent to lift Gevrekoğlu’s dog into the vehicle. According to that account, the dog’s paw touched the trigger of the shotgun hanging from the companion’s shoulder, causing it to fire. That version differs from viral English-language summaries claiming the gun was lying loaded in the trunk.
Why the wording matters
An earlier dispatch attributed to Anadolu Agency described Gevrekoğlu as having accidentally shot himself and said the gendarmerie had opened an investigation. A later Samsun Gazetesi report gave the dog-trigger account, said the companion was detained, and reported that a judge released him under judicial-control conditions while the investigation continued.
Those differences mean the safest conclusion is that Gevrekoğlu died in an accidental shotgun discharge and that multiple later Turkish reports attributed the trigger contact to a dog. The public reports reviewed for this article do not establish a final court finding, so the dog-trigger detail should be presented as reported rather than as a proven forensic conclusion.
The investigation and aftermath
Local coverage reported that the companion was questioned and then released under judicial supervision. Gevrekoğlu was buried in Kışlakonak cemetery in Alaçam. Several outlets also reported that he had become a father only about ten days before his death.
The case circulated internationally because of its unusual dog-related detail, but it is fundamentally a firearm-safety tragedy. Dogs can move unpredictably around vehicles and equipment. A hunting firearm should be unloaded before transport, its action opened, ammunition stored separately, and the gun secured so neither a person nor an animal can reach the trigger.
The images in this article are AI-generated editorial reconstructions. They do not depict Gevrekoğlu, his companions, the dog involved, or the actual scene.
