Bad; 15 Yr Old Shoots Self With a Blank-Loaded Pistol

[Rcher]

Teenager shot with a blank dies - Salt Lake Tribune


Teenager shot with a blank dies
Pistol meant as prop for school play ends life of St. George boy, 15
By Lindsay Whitehurst
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Launched: 11/17/2008 01:38:52 AM MST


The father of a St. George 15-year-old who was killed by a blank-loaded prop gun Saturday before a school play said he was astonished the teen had been allowed to handle the weapon without supervision.
''It's a bad dream, everything is sucked out of me," said Ron Thayer, whose son Tucker died while handling the gun. "The question we have is why there was a real gun allowed in school . . . you don't hand a lethal weapon to a 15-year-old and say, 'Be careful.' "
Thayer was especially saddened and bewildered when he remembered Desert Hills High School's reaction to a wooden-rifle prop last month. Tucker, a stage hand for the school's production of "Oklahoma!," repaired the prop at home and brought it back to school Oct. 10. Someone saw the fake gun, called police, and the school was locked down for more than an hour as officers cleared the potential threat.
That was exactly the right reaction, Thayer said. What he can't understand is how the real gun, a .38-caliber pistol, slipped through the cracks.
Police are asking the same questions.
"We do know it was in a locked case, but how much access did this 15-year-old have?" said St. George police Sgt. James Van Fleet.
The gun somehow fired at about 6:20 p.m. Saturday as Tucker removed it from the locked cabinet in preparation for a show an hour later, Van Fleet said. The shot hit Tucker in the head, and despite being rushed to the hospital, he was dead before 10 p.m.

Marshall Topham, assistant superintendent for secondary education in the Washington County School District, said he wasn't aware that real weapons were used. A school policy prohibits guns or look-alikes on school property, though exceptions were made for the wooden "Oklahoma!" props, Topham said.
"The question is what restrictions and stipulations the school administrators and resource office had put on its use," he said. "At this point, I'm just not aware of all the details."
Ron Thayer said he was not informed that his son would be handling the blank-loaded pistol.
"If I knew, I would have been down there in a second," he said.
While his Eagle Scout son knew how to use shotguns and .22-caliber rifles, he had never been trained how to use a pistol because he wasn't old enough. And Tucker didn't know how dangerous blanks can be, his father said.
"He was a 15-year-old kid. A lot of adults don't realize a blank can actually kill you," he said.
Though the cartridges are tipped with plastic or cardboard instead of metal, they still contain gunpowder and primer. Hot gas from that small explosion can be deadly at close range, Van Fleet said.
None of three stagehands in the sound booth with Tucker saw the shot, and police don't know how the gun went off.
Meanwhile, Ron Thayer, his wife, Cathie, and their three other children are mourning Tucker, the teenager who hiked in Zion National Park and loved Harry Potter books. He was called "Truffle" by a Boy Scout friend because he was like the candy - hard on the outside, soft and creamy on the inside, Tucker's father said.
He had helped out with plays in middle school, and relished his work with "Oklahoma!" He built sets with his father's power tools and helped to set up lighting and sound.
"He didn't want to be an actor, but he loved being behind the scenes," he said. "I'm not mad at any teachers or any kids, but I feel like the school district let us down."

lwhitehurst@sltrib.com

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[DefensiveCarry.com]

[dukalmighty]

Something tells me whoever brought a gun on school property and then allowed a juvenile access is in deep doo doo

[HotGuns]

There was an actor that did something similar. Jon Eric Hexum, he had a TV series that I used to watch when I was alot younger.

Clowning around, he put a .44 revolver to his head that was loaded with blanks and pulled the trigger. The force from the blank knocked a piece of his skull loose and pushed it through his brain, killing him.

Those blanks have a lot of force to them and as proven can be lethal.
Even loaded with blanks, guns are not to be taken lightly.

[bandit383]

To me...the simple pointing of a gun at myself and someone else...loaded or unloaded is not only ripe for a disaster...but totally against all laws of weapon handling.

Rick

[joleary223]

Sad story, I feel for the family but I see a couple of people at fault here. The person who allowed the gun to be accessed by a child, and a father that didn't educate his son about weapons.
A little education would have gone a long way in this situation. 15 is plenty old enough to know about gun safety, pistols included.

[madmunky40]

I agree with joleary. if he was old enough to know how to use shotguns/.22-caliber rifles then at least he should have been taught about pistols. sad all around in any case.

[Rcher]

The local news update this morning said that the handgun was not even supposed to be at the school without an adult (maybe the father) in possession of the gun. Evidently, the "adult" was supposed to handle and fire the blanks for the play. Something broke down here and I'm sure the investigation will reveal the entire story.

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[ccman]

Real sad.

[Old Chief]

15 yo is old enough to be educated in safety and use of handguns. I taught my 8 yo grandson to safely handel and shoot a pistol and now, eleven years later, he still does those things that I taught him. I know that this is a sad situation but education is a priceless tool and it is never too early to learn.

[hogdaddy]

Bad Deal Really SAD

[Eagleks]

My 9 yr & 12 yr old grandkids have been shown handguns, and how they can also do a lot of damage and how dangerous they can be. It is also drilled into them that if any kid wants to show them their "daddy's " gun... to leave as fast as possible without hesitation.

This is a real shame, and whoever provided the gun... is in for negligent manslaughter charges.

[me]

It may just be me but if this young man was trained to shoot a .22 and a shotgun then if he accidentally shot himself then his training was flawed and missed at least 2 rules.

Truly sad

[retsupt99]

The true blank was between his ears, and a life was wasted because of it. Not good!

[socal2310]

It may just be me but if this young man was trained to shoot a .22 and a shotgun then if he accidentally shot himself then his training was flawed and missed at least 2 rules.

I agree, pointing it at something he probably didn't want to destroy (himself) AND putting the finger on the trigger before he was ready to fire.

Why do people teach kids to use firearms without teaching them how to handle them?

Ryan

[KG4ZRC]

At 15 he was well old enough to be taught about guns, and gun safety... Even pistols.

Heck, if he is learning gun safety for rifles (do not point at anything you do not wish to shoot/destroy/kill, and treat all weapons if they are loaded) then perhaps this wouldn't have happened? Selective training is just as good as ignorance in this case.