A Vancouver-area man is dead following a freak accident during a weekend pistol competition at a Kamloops shooting range.

RCMP Cpl. Jodi Shelkie said police were called to the Kamloops Target Sports Association range at about 1 p.m. on Sunday. She said a 50-year-old man who had been taking part in a shooting competition accidentally shot himself. He later died at hospital.

Association president Jim Sloper told KTW a two-day competition was slated to wrap up on Sunday when the accident took place.

鈥淚 think there were about 120 competitors,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was unfortunate. Somebody dropped his firearm and it went off. He was an experienced shooter, an instructor.鈥�

Sloper said he can鈥檛 recall a similar incident ever taking place in the past.

鈥淭he club鈥檚 been in existence for 100-some-odd years and we鈥檝e never had anything like this happen,鈥� he said.

Sloper described the competition as a two-day International Practical Shooting Confederation target competition.

鈥淎s far as I know, it was cut short,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know exactly what happened.鈥�

The investigation is ongoing.