A child from Lufkin, Texas, was killed Sunday in what authorities are calling a “freak accident” at a rodeo event in Beauregard Parish.

According to investigators with the Beauregard Parish Sheriff’s Office, 10 year-old Legend Williamson was riding a horse in the warm-up pen at the Texas Junior High Rodeo being held Oct. 3 at the Beauregard Parish Covered Arena when the horse experienced a fatal health event.

BPSO Chief Det. Sylvester Denmond said the horse is believed to have experienced either a heart attack or brain aneurysm before rearing up and then falling on the boy.

The horse died immediately, Denmond said, and the child was rushed to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Medical officials said the child died from blunt force trauma to the head from the accident.
Denmond said the cause of death for the horse, and the cause of the accident, came after a veterinarian examined the animal.