An otherwise nice day took a turn for the worse for five friends hiking in New Jersey’s Apshawa Preserve Sunday afternoon. Upon sensing that they were being followed by a black bear, the five split and ran, a risky move. Sadly, it ended in death for 22 year old Rutgers student Darsh Patel in what officials believe to be the first fatal bear attack in New Jersey in some 150 years, NorthJersey.com reports.

By about 4 p.m., the four remaining friends had regrouped and realized Patel was missing, and contacted authorities. Wets Milford Tim Storbeck announced that Patels body was found with bite and claw marks. The bear was lurking near Patel’s body when officers attempted to recover it, and was eventually killed by the officers’ shotgun blasts.

The bear weighed nearly 300 lbs and is believed to be about four years old. It’s the first recorded fatal bear encounter in the state of New Jersey since the 1850s. Officials’ main concern at this point is determining whether the bear carried any diseases, like rabies.

Though attacks of this sort are atypical, experts warn that the students’ behavior was exactly what can make a close encounter deadly. Running, they say, encourages bears to chase, and humans can neither outrun nor outclimb bears. Instead, their best chance was to remain in a group, which would likely have scared the bear and sent it on its way.