Video Shows The Shooting of Charles Vacca by Young Girl

gtvon · #1 ● 08-27-2014, 12:36 AM

A 39-year-old shooting instructor, Charles Vacca, was accidentally shot and killed by a 9-year-old girl at the Last Stop outdoor shooting range in Dolan Springs, Arizona, on August 25, 2014.

According to the Mohave County Sheriff's Office, Vacca was instructing the girl on how to use an Uzi, a fully automatic submachine gun, when the incident occurred. The girl, who was accompanied by her parents, lost control of the weapon due to its recoil, causing the gun to be aimed at Vacca's head.

Vacca, a veteran and a highly trained firearms instructor, was airlifted to the University Medical Center in Las Vegas, where he was pronounced dead later that evening.

The shooting range, which allows children as young as eight to handle firearms under adult supervision, has faced criticism for its policies in the wake of the incident. The girl's parents were present at the time of the shooting, and the range operator stated that the establishment had never experienced a similar incident in its 14 years of operation.

The Mohave County Sheriff's Office has not filed charges against the girl or her family, considering the shooting to be an industrial accident. The incident has reignited the debate surrounding the appropriate age for handling firearms and the necessity for stricter regulations on gun ranges that allow children to operate heavy weapons.