Man, 26, killed after baby gender reveal goes tragically wrong
A 26-year-old man has been killed in an explosion that occurred during a baby shower in the US state of Michigan.
A small cannon device that was fired in the backyard of a home blew up, spraying metal shrapnel that struck Evan Silva who was standing nearby.
Mr Silva was taken in serious condition to Hurley Medical Center in Flint, where he later died.
Three parked cars and the garage where the baby shower was being held were also struck by shrapnel.
The cannon was not loaded with projectiles and was supposed to make a flash bang and release a coloured smoke, police have told ABC7Chicago.
Telephone calls Sunday to Gaines Township authorities for additional information weren’t immediately returned.
In recent years, some gender-reveal events — where devices eject confetti, balloons or other coloured objects to announce a soon-to-be-born child’s sex — have taken a dangerous turn.
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In September, a couple’s plan to reveal their baby’s gender with blue or pink smoke sparked a wildfire that burned thousands of acres in Southern California.
And in 2019, a homemade explosive used to reveal a baby’s gender killed 56-year-old Pamela Kreimeyer in Knoxville, Iowa.
The device was meant to spray powder but instead blew up like a pipe bomb.
with AP
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