AMERICUS, Kan. -- An Emporia State University freshman died during the weekend after being shot by someone in a passing vehicle while he was hunting for geese.

Beau Arndt, 18, of Americus, and two friends had placed several dozen goose decoys in a farm field Saturday and were lying in the snow waiting for incoming birds, according to the Lyon County Sheriff's Department.

Arndt's companions told police that a pickup truck stopped along a nearby road and fired a rifle shot into the decoys, but hit Arndt instead and then left the scene.

Shooting waterfowl with a rifle is illegal in Kansas, as is shooting from inside a vehicle or onto someone's property without permission.

Arndt was the first person killed in a hunting accident in Kansas since 2005, state officials said.

The Emporia Gazette reported on Tuesday that witnesses described a truck they'd seen as a late 1970s model Ford pickup with a standard cab and a Shawnee County license plate.

A witness told authorities there were three men inside.

The newspaper reported that the cab and front end of the truck were red and the bed was orange.

The rear of the bed had an old Ford logo on it, which the newspaper reported as being three blocks - one large, one medium and one small.

Authorities urged anyone with any information to call the sheriff's office at 342-5545, the Lyon County Crimestoppers organization at 342-2273 or 1-800-KS CRIME.