Michigan teen Brandon Spangler shot dead during paintball outing in Indiana

A 17-year-old boy visiting his dad in Indiana was shot and killed during a family paintball outing by a farmer who mistook him for a coyote, authorities said.

Brandon Spangler, 17, of Flushing, Mich., was unloading paintball gear from a car with his father and three brothers on a farm in Shelby, Ind., on Friday when he was struck by a burst of gunfire, Shelby County cops said.

Brandon was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.

Investigators said the central Indiana farm’s owner, Jason Bagley, 41, pulled the trigger after he heard a rustling in some trees near his house and thought it was a pack of coyotes, local NBC 13 reported.

Bagley told police that he knew the Spanglers and had given them permission to play paintball on his property, but he didn’t know the family would be there on Friday because they hadn’t called ahead, NBC reported.

Using a hunting rifle, he fired multiple times at the wooded area, unknowingly shooting Brandon in the shoulder, cops said.

Investigators are still determining whether Bagley will face charges, NBC reported.

Brandon, a senior at Flushing High School, was in Indiana visiting his father, who lives in Greenwood, about 15 miles south of Indianapolis.

Flushing Schools Superintendent Tim Stein called the incident a tragedy.

“Our heart goes out to the family and we’ll do whatever we can to support them through the grieving process,” Stein told The Flint Journal.

Grief counselors will be made available to students once school resumes after the winter break, Stein said.