By Joe Milicia
The Associated Press

MOUNT HOPE, Ohio - A man killed when a motorist fired a shotgun into a cornfield at a group throwing tomatoes at passing cars died of multiple pellet wounds to the chest, an autopsy showed Wednesday.

The most serious wounds suffered by Steven L. Keim, 23, an Apple Creek resident of Amish heritage, were to his lungs and left upper chamber of his heart, Holmes County Coroner Robert Anthony said.

Keim was with about 10 other members of the Amish community, ages 15 to 23, who were hiding in a cornfield Monday night just north of Mount Hope, about 60 miles south of Cleveland.

The group told the sheriff's office they were throwing tomatoes and firing paintball guns at passing vehicles.

Throwing vegetables and staging other pranks by young people in the Amish community is common every fall, the sheriff's office said.

Holmes County is a rural area that has what's believed to be the world's largest Amish population.

Although Keim was raised Amish, the self-employed roofing contractor had a driver's license and had left the Amish church, a sheriff's deputy said.

According to the sheriff's department, the driver of a Lincoln or Cadillac stopped, got out and threatened to shoot whoever threw the tomatoes.

About 25 minutes later the vehicle traveled past the cornfield two more times. On a third pass, the driver stopped and challenged the group to throw more tomatoes, then fired three to five rounds into the cornfield.

The sheriff's department was looking for a middle-aged male suspect of medium height.