Mohave County Sheriff’s deputies responded to an accidental shooting at an outdoor shooting range Monday morning, August 25, 2014. Deputies responded to the Last Stop shooting range, located at 20606 North Highway 93 in White Hills. Investigations determined a 9-year-old girl accidentally shot a gun instructor in the head. The instructor, 39-year-old Charles Vacca was airlifted to a medical center in Las Vegas, Nevada and was pronounced dead Monday evening at the University Medical Center at 8:56 PM. The girl was at the business with her parents.
Police said that Vacca was standing next to the girl while he was instructing her how to use the weapon when the accident happened. Further investigations determined the girl pulled the trigger on the automatic Uzi, the recoil sent the gun over her head and the victim was shot.
The autopsy will be performed by the Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office in Nevada.
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Get a grip people. The decision to allow a 9 year old to learn to shoot an UZI is just in the worst possible judgement. The result has damaged this child for life. When will common sense prevail on our country and this site. When is the child going to use this weapon…Oh, maybe the next mass school shooting?? Let’s be sure she really knows how to hit the targets… Really.
As far as people minding their own business. Sometimes u have to step in if safety is concerned.
With the exception of the psychological damage to this young girl, I’m glad this incident is revealing this abhorrent practice of allowing children onto gun ranges. Hopefully some National legislation will put an end to this. We consider cigarettes, alcohol, and certain drugs dangerous and we bar access to minors, yet guns slip by somehow (NRA). Oh right, parents are there so it makes it okay huh? Yeah try and tell that to the officer when you host the next underage drinking party.
It seems like a trend for you, mixing up legal and illegal, and you want to be a cop?
marijuana is a plant, but it has mind and body altering properties. guidelines and some restrictions are perfectly apropos. it should NOT be outright banned. simple users and small growers should not be imprisoned. typically i favor natural plants left alone and available, providing no harm befalls others. i favor GOOD laws, and GOOD order. I fundamentally believe in the mechanism of government and law enforcement-as per my reading of C.Hedgely Bull,Thomas Hobbes, and life experiences
It looks like our two Alpha males are at it again, trying to out wit each other throughout the day, each trying to convince the other of their superiority.
I’m watching some of the national debate on MSNBC about this UZI tragedy, and this guy Bob Irwin (owner of the Gun Store in Las Vegas) is literally trying to justify allowing 8 year olds to shoot UZI’s. This is the sickest discussion I’ve ever seen. CHILDREN AND MACHINE GUNS? Bob thinks not enough people have had bullets in their heads yet to justify changing the policy. Unbelievable. He’s going on and on trying to justify children shooting machine guns.
And that video showing the firing of the UZI on repeat firing mode leading to the death of the shooting instructor Charles Vacca needs to be released by the Mohave County Sheriff’s department IN ITS ENTIRETY. Damn sheriff’s are covering up the gruesome details undoubtedly on the NRA’s behalf. I’m a member of the NRA, and I support the 2nd Amendment but ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. This culture of GUNS FOR EVERYONE to include children has gone too far.
I had bought an acre of land in Mohave County, Arizona, and was in contact with their county building and zoning officials for a period of time while I was testing the viability of starting my Earthship project down there: Dolan Springs to be exact. I’m glad I let the land go and never followed through with that area. There were access issues, but the area was very beautiful, and I loved the cacti formations.
what city in Mohave county?
uh…Dolan Springs; except it’s hardly a city…not even a town really; more like a settlement. I do remember seeing a guy at a breakfast shack along the highway to Vegas with a handgun strapped to his belt. I hadn’t been exposed to open carry in awhile, so it took a bit of getting used to. I did live in Tucson in ’95 and saw this guy literally dressed in a cowboy hat, bandana and six shooter. It was the first time I’d seen open carry other than by a law officer.
It is not up to you peter who is allowed to shoot a gun and who isn’t, it is up to the parents. You say you want to be a mayor of your own little town? From what I see, all you want is power and you with power is a very dangerous thing, welcome to the new communist party.
Oh yes, it must be a communist thing that children should be safe NOT to be exposed to adults who would let them shoot an unmounted UZI submachine gun. Must be printed within the Communist Manifesto somewhere. Actually, if the machine gun were mounted on a secure stand, with up/down and left/right pan kept in a secure position, I may not have such an issue with letting minors shoot automatic weapons on approved courses. But NEVER freehand to their own devices; ABSOLUTELY NOT.
The parents will live forever with guilt and shame. They were the ones who used exceedingly poor judgement. I’m a gun owner and enthusiast but come on, an UZI in the hands of a kid? Duh!
I’m not worried about the parent’s guilt and shame; who gives a F about them? They are stupid pieces of paranoid trash who should spend their lives in prison. It’s the 9 year old girl reasonable people should be concerned with. Steckman? Ragan? King? Dietz? You need to get after this.
It’s child abuse. Period. Let this be a lesson to any other would-be fool adults. I feel sorry for this poor girl.
And this gun range needs to be shut down and everyone involved in its operation prosecuted, along with the parents. Also, if state law already doesnt bar minors from being at gun ranges, the legislators need to get off their asses and do so. These sicko people need to be reigned in. 9 years old? Disgusting.
@Philly-Not child abuse. Just STUPIDITY. Everyone know a UZI raises up when fired on Auto.
Oh yeah, every ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILD knows that LVS. Come on man, get real. You’re more rational than that… Aren’t you? You’re probably just showboating for the other 2nd Amendment fruit cakes lurking around.
@Philly-Come on now. Are you trying to tell me a firearms instructor didn’t know that about a UZI. It was up to him to instruct the girl and obviously he didn’t or he would still be alive. Quit being stubborn and admit you made a mistake.
No LVS, it was NOT up to the firearms instructor to teach this 9 year old child about the recoil on an ISRAELI SECURITY AGENCY’S weapon’s recoil properties. You’ve lost it man.
@Philly-what is wrong with you??? Why would you not think a “INSTRUCTOR” who is paid to “INSTRUCT” people how to use a gun would not have the responsibility of “INSTRUCTING” the girl in how a firearm works before letting her fire the weapon? You are letting you personal feelings out weigh your intelligence.
Because OBVIOUSLY a 9 year old girl shouldn’t be around a fully automatic or semi automatic dangerous and deadly firearm in the first place. I’m precluding the premise, denying it, so any follow ups would be moot. You try and rationalize an event that should never have been allowed to occur.
@Philly-that is your opinion. It is up to the parents on what the girl does. It was a bad decision but not child abuse. Just more P.C. crap by people who should mind their own business.
Up to the parents to decide? Sharia Master LVS huh? No old gaff, it’s not up to the parents to decide. It’s up to society, by way of the government to decide. Should we give the little girl a hand grenade to throw? How about a trip Iraq to see the fighting going on? The family says it’s okay right? Should the little girl get a decapitated head to hold up because daddy says it’s okay? The weapons of violence and war do not belong in the hands of little girls or boys. Ur-a-SICKO
So it’s up to the government, not the parents, what is best for a 9 year old girl? That reeks of socialism and or communism. Are you sure you are in the right country peter?
Yep, I’m sure. ARE YOU? With such an attitude of “family knows best”, you’d be better served living in tribal areas of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and any other “AN” for that matter. One of your problems #maybe is you refuse to acknowledge when government has a good and true purpose. You guys talk about wanting government out of your lives, but you benefit from it daily. The whole core of your being and sense of identity exists because of the civility of government and rules.
The government needs to mind it’s own business and let US parents raise our own kids.
And actually as a soldier, YOU WORKED FOR THE GOVERNMENT, so where was your indignation then? The military had nearly complete control over your life #maybe, and you sucked it right up and relished it didn’t you? You liked being ordered around then, told what to do, when to do it, what to wear, how to talk, how to think…
Geez, it’s like ’tissue party paper’ debating with you…a little bit of water soaks and bleeds your positions easily.
You make absolutely no sense whatsoever. The government is a necessary evil sometimes, you can work for it, with it and have it be a part of your everyday life but the government doesn’t have to be in control of your family. It’s like you and your little house, you work on it, build it but it doesn’t run your family does it?
I report to those rubber tires each and every morning-of course those tires tell me what to do. If I had a family, they’d be telling them what to do also. When a Goodyear or Yokohama barks out a command, it’s best to follow it.
Dad: “I don’t care if the steel belting is poking through and cutting your fingers….235-55-R17 wants to sit on the porch…and you’re going to carry him there.”
Child: “Aww dad…alright.”
Dad: “Then wash up and get ready for dinner…
It seems as if you are the only one in the entire world that thinks it’s child abuse peter. Like I told you this morning it is either ignorance or stupidity or a lapse of judgment that won’t happen again.
And what if this poor girl would have suffered the consequences of this UZI SUBMACHINE GUN (ISRAELI DEFENSE FORCES special tactical weapon) turning back on herself? One minute she’s watching DIsney Channel trying to sing like Selena Gomez into a plastic karoake machine, dreaming of cute boys and my little ponies, and the next thing she would be DEAD. You’ve been stripped of your stripes soldier. Iraqi help, my ass. CHILD ABUSE.
And what if you walked across the road and got hit by a car? You cannot live your live by “what if’s”. The fact that you still think it is child abuse shows your ignorance on the subject, either that or you were abused as a child and therefore think that anything that could hurt a child is abuse, if that is the case then allowing a child to learn how to ride a bike is child abuse.
So your same argument should apply to drugs and legalization then right? Because society cannot live by “What if’s”. You can’t ban marijuana or heroin for that matter because something bad could happen. Just because SOME people rob banks with handguns doesn’t mean all handguns should be banned right? Just because SOME people drive high on marijuana and get in an accident, doesn’t mean everyone does right? Same damn argument Einstein.
I know this is way above your intellect but guns are legal and drugs are NOT.
Does that mean my little “Herkimer” is an UZI ?
Wtf is a Herkimer?
Same as a willy !!
Where is Philly when you need him? I know he will have several mis-guided comments about this.
Pretty sure he didn’t get held up at work.
Pack 12 P235-70-R17 tires in a day, with an 8lb sledgehammer, perfectly leveled and firm with wet heavy clay by yourself with biting, flies, mosquitoes, then talk to me about work.
Pointless labor is not the same thing as work.
mosquitoes huh, it has been too cold at my place for them. I can sit outside all night long without seeing a single mosquitoes. I guess they only have them at your sandbox.
Oh they’re here…hanging under a leaf, waiting to bite your PETER when you take a pee.
@Philly-try showering with soap and see if that helps.