No Charges Against 9-Year-Old Uzi Girl Who Accidentally Shoots to Death Arizona Gun Instructor (VIDEO)
Recently, netizens had violent reactions to the images of a young Australian boy holding a decapitated head and brandishing a powerful weapon. The photo, tweeted by his Australia-born father who took his family to Syria to join jihadists with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, was followed by the viral video on the beheading of American photojournalist James Foley.
Read:
Islamic State: British Intelligence Agencies Identify Rapper Abdel Bary Is Jihasdist John, the Beheader of James Foley
Islamic State: Brit Rapper Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary Is Suspected Beheader of James Foley
Islamic State: Foley Family Believes James Could Have Volunteered Beheading to Spare Lives of Fellow Hostages
American Journalist Steven Sotloff at Risk of Beheading Too If US Gov't Refuses to Pay $100 Million Ransom to Islamic State Like It Did With James Foley
After James Foley, ISIL Threatens to Behead Another American Journalist Steven Sotloff
On Wednesday, another news of a bloody death was reported by media. However, it didn't happen in the Middle East but in Arizona where a 9-year-old girl accidentally shot to death her shooting instructor with an Uzi.
The incident happened at the Bullets and Burgers range near Las Vegas. The family from New Jersey went on a holiday and stopped at the range located between Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon.
According to a video of what happened prior to the accident - likely filmed by the girl's parents using their mobile phone - the girl, who was dressed in pink shorts and grey T-shirt, had both hands holding the weapon made in Israel capable of firing 600 rounds per minute.
The weapon, though, was initially on a single shot mode, and the video showed that the girl fired several time before her instructor, 39-year-old Charlie Vacca, changed the mode to fully automatic. He then told his young female student, "Turn this leg forward, there you go, just like that. Alright, go ahead and give me one shot. Alriiiiighr. Alright full auto...," The Telegraph quoted the former soldier who was wearing camouflage pants.
But the girl lost control of the Uzi, which recoiled and jumped upward. Even if she continued to hold the gun, at least one bullet hit Vacca in his head.
The instructor was airlifted to a Las Vegas hospital, but he was pronounced dead on arrival. Mohave County Sheriff Jim McCabe said the girl would not be charged because while it is illegal for people below 18 to carry a gun in Arizona, Bullets and Burgers was fully licensed and is a private property. The girl's parents were also with her as well as Vacca who was a certified instructor.
Moreover, it is discretionary on the part of gun range operators to determine if it will teach minors to use automatic weapons like the Uzi. Bullets and Burger's Facebook page says the range offers a unique Desert Storm atmosphere and military-style bunkers and visitors could shoot using it fully automatic machine guns at its range.
Sam Scarmardo, who owns the range, said they had taught kids as young as 5 years old how to shoot a .22 rifle but under the supervision of the parents and range instructors. He said, "I just ask everybody to pray for Charlie. And pray for the client. She's going to have a hard time."
CNN reported that a similar accident happened in Massachusetts in 2008 when 8-year-old Christopher Bizilj accidentally hit himself with a micro Uzi he was firing at a gun show that former Pelham Police Chief Edward Fleury helped organise. Although Christopher instantly died from the bullet wound, Fleury was acquitted of three counts of providing a machine gun to a minor.
Here is the viral video of the Arizona incident, which has more than 2.3 million view in less than 24 hours. It was apparently filmed by the girl's parents on their mobile phone, but the footage stops right before the accidential shooting of Vacca.
YouTube/FOX 10 Phoenix