Monday, September 8, 2014

9-year-old girl unintentionally shoots and kills gun range instructor

43-year-old Alexander MacLachlan, of Weekhawken, New Jersey, was vacationing with his wife and three children in Las Vegas when they decided to visit The Last Stop Burger and Bullets in White Hills, Arizona.

The family took a monster truck ride and then headed over to the shooting range. Alexander was the first to shoot a weapon. His 9-year-old daughter went next.

The gun range instructor, 39-year-old Charles Vacca, showed the 9-year-old how to use an Uzi automatic submachine gun. He showed her how to shoot the gun, how to stand and helped her fire a few rounds. He then stepped back and let her fire the gun herself in the fully automatic mode.

The recoil from the Uzi wrenched the gun upward, shooting Vacca in the head. Vacca was airlifted to a Las Vegas hospital where he died a few hours later.

The range's operator said the parents had signed waivers and added that they had never had a safety problem before and had a policy of allowing children 8 and older to fire guns under adult supervision.

Prosecutors said they do not plan to file any charges.  Vacca's family has said they feel sorry for the girl and do not blame her.


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