Family, town mourning after tragic accident

RELATED LINK • More Coverage: Father says boy had permission to use gun



By DAVID BERGENGREN

dbergengren@repub.com



WESTFIELD - An 8-year-old boy died after accidentally shooting himself with an automatic weapon at the Westfield Sportsman's Club on Furrowtown Road about 2 p.m. Sunday, police said.



Witnesses told police the boy, whose name was not released, lost control of a fully automatic UZI he was shooting under the supervision of range officers at the club "when the self-inflicted accidental shooting occurred.



He was taken to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield with serious head injuries. Police announced early Sunday evening that he had died.



Though Westfield police said, "it appears the incident was purely accidental," a combined investigation of local police and the office of Hampden County District Attorney William M. Bennett is underway.

Police, Sportsman's Club Speak

"There's an investigation going on now involving both Westfield police and the state police assigned to my office," Bennett said Sunday night.

Asked to comment on the advisability of an 8-year-old shooting an automatic weapon, Bennett said, "Once we have more information on what happened and how it happened, we'll be in a position to make public statements (on the incident)."

Efforts to reach club officers for comment Sunday were unsuccessful.

Witnesses said the boy "was shooting the weapon down range when the force of the weapon made it travel up and back toward his head, where he suffered the injury," police said in the statement they released.

He was conscious and lying on the ground at the shooting range with a wound to the right side of his head when police and emergency medical technicians arrived at the scene, police said.

After first aid was administered, the youth, accompanied by his father, was taken to the hospital, police said.

The size of UZIs vary. Police did not say which model of the weapon the boy was firing.The weapon was originally designed for use by the Israeli military.



Police declined to give the boy's hometown, other than to say it was not Westfield.

The Westfield Sportsman's Club, in association with COP Firearms & Training of Amherst, was conducting a machine gun shoot and firearms exposition this weekend, according to its promotional material for the event.

The advertisement includes the information that, "You will be accompanied to the firing line with a Certified Instructor to guide you."

Attendees under the age of 16 were admitted free, and free .22-caliber pistol and rifle shooting for adults and kids was offered, according to the promotional material.

The sportsman's club is a private, nonprofit organization incorporated in 1949 that has 375 acres with facilities that include eight firing ranges, as well as facilities for archery and fishing. As of July, it had nearly 1,200 members.

During a tour of the club in July, its officers pointed out the care taken to ensure safety at the firing ranges.

COP Firearms & Training operates machine gun shoots and provides firearms training and sales, as well as gunsmithing and other services.