| December 4, 2008 Police chief, gun club indicted in boy's Uzi death
|
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) - A gun club and a police chief whose
company sponsored a gun show have been indicted for involuntary
manslaughter in the death of an 8-year-old Connecticut boy who
accidentally shot himself with an Uzi.
Pelham Police Chief Edward Fleury owns the COP Firearms &
Training, which sponsored the Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo
last month at the Westfield Sportsman's Club. The club and two
other men, Carl Guiffre of Hartford, Conn., and Domenico Spano, of
New Milford, Conn., also were indicted on involuntary manslaughter
charges. It was not immediately clear the role Guiffre and Spano
played in the boy's death.
Christopher Bizilj of Ashford, Conn., lost control
of the 9mm micro submachine gun as it recoiled while he was firing
at a pumpkin. He was attending the show with his older brother and
father, who was standing 10 feet behind the boy preparing to take a
photograph when the child fired the weapon.
"A Micro Uzi is made by and for the Israeli Armed Forces and is
intended to meet the operational needs of Israeli Special Forces,"
Hampden District Attorney William Bennett said in a news release.
"It is not a hunting weapon. It has a rate of fire of 1,700 rounds
per second."
Fleury and the club also were indicted on four counts each of
furnishing a machine gun to a minor.
Fleury, Guiffre and Spano did not immediately return calls for
comment. A man who answered the phone at the club said
he was a
member; he refused to identify himself and said no one wanted to
talk.
The machine gun shoot drew hundreds of people to the sporting
club's 375-acre compound. 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.
Christopher's father, Charles Bizilj, has said his son had
experience firing handguns and rifles but the gun show was his
first time with an automatic weapon. A certified instructor was
with the boy at the time.
The family did not immediately return a call for comment.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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