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Boy, 8, fatally shoots self with Uzi at gun show

2008-10-28 07:57:08

By SUSAN HAIGH, Associated Press Writer Susan Haigh, Associated Press Writer 37

mins ago

WESTFIELD, Mass. With an instructor watching, an 8-year-old boy at a gun fair

aimed an Uzi at a pumpkin and pulled the trigger as his dad reached for a

camera.

It was his first time shooting a fully automatic machine gun, and the recoil of

the weapon was too much for him. He lost control and fatally shot himself in

the head.

Now gun safety experts and some gun enthusiasts at the club where the

shooting happened are wondering why such a young child was allowed to fire a

weapon used in war. Local, state and federal authorities are also investigating

whether everyone involved had proper licenses or if anyone committed a criminal

act.

"It's easy to lose control of a weapon like that ... they are used on a

battleground for a very good reason," said Jerry Belair, a spokesman for Stop

Handgun Violence, based in Newton, Mass. "It's to shoot as many times as you

possibly can without having to reload at an enemy that's approaching. It's not

a toy. It's not something to play with."

Police said Christopher Bizilj (Bah-SEAL) of Ashford, Conn., was pronounced

dead at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass., on Sunday afternoon,

shortly after firing a 9mm micro Uzi submachine gun at the Machine Gun Shoot

and Firearms Expo at the Westfield Sportsman's Club, co-sponsored by C.O.P.

Firearms & Training.

"The weapon was loaded and ready to fire," Westfield police Lt. Hipolito Nunez

said. "The 8-year-old victim had the Uzi and as he was firing the weapon, the

front end of the weapon went up with the backfire and he ended up receiving a

round in his head."

Nunez said the investigation is continuing.

Christopher, a third-grader, was attending the show with his father and

sixth-grade brother, Colin. Christopher had fired handguns and rifles before,

but Sunday was his first time firing an automatic weapon, said his father,

Charles Bizilj.

Bizilj told the Boston Globe he was about 10 feet behind his son and reaching

for his camera when the weapon fired. He said his family avoided the larger

weapons, but he let his son try the Uzi because it's a small weapon with little

recoil.

"This accident was truly a mystery to me," said Bizilj, director of emergency

medicine at Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford, Conn. "This is a horrible

event, a horrible travesty, and I really don't know why it happened."

Police are calling the shooting an accident but are investigating whether

everyone connected with the incident had proper weapons permits. Massachusetts

requires licenses to own firearms, and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,

Firearms and Explosives issues different licenses to possess machine guns.

The machine gun shoot drew hundreds of people from as far away as Maine and

Virginia. An advertisement said it would include machine gun demonstrations and

rentals and free handgun lessons.

"It's all legal & fun No permits or licenses required!!!!" reads the ad,

posted on the club's Web site.

"You will be accompanied to the firing line with a Certified Instructor to

guide you. But You Are In Control "FULL AUTO ROCK & ROLL," the ad said.

The ad also said children under 16 would be admitted free, and both adults and

children were offered free .22-caliber pistol and rifle shooting.

Massachusetts has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation. It is legal in

Massachusetts for children to fire a weapon if they have permission from a

parent or legal guardian and they are supervised by a properly certified and

licensed instructor, Nunez said. The name of the instructor who was with the

boy at the time was not released.

"We do not know at this time the full facts of this incident," Nunez said

Monday.