Shooting Instructor Dies - Shot in the head

The fateful seconds before nine-year-old girl accidentally shot her gun instructor dead with an Uzi: 

Video of child losing control of submachine gun after being told to go 'full auto' released by cops

• Charles Vacca, a father and army veteran, was assisting the little girl at a shooting range just south of Las Vegas on Monday morning.
  
  
• She pulled the trigger of an automatic Uzi and the recoil sent the gun over her head, shooting Vacca
  
• He was airlifted to hospital but died on Monday evening.
  
  
• Girl was with her parents at Bullets and Burgers shooting range on vacation from New Jersey
  
• No charges are to be filed because Bullets and Burgers is licensed and legal.
  

These images show the seconds before a nine-year girl accidentally shot her gun instructor dead on Monday.

Recorded at the Bullets and Burgers shooting range in White Hills, Arizona, the edited 22-second clip plays up to the point where the girl loses control of an Uzi, striking 39-year-old Charles Vacca.

The shocking recording taken by the girl's parents and released by police shows Vacca standing closely next to the girl when the gun recoiled as she fired on full automatic mode.

As the clip unfolds, Vacca is seen to instruct the girl to hold the weapon with two hands at all times and to take a perpendicular stance to the target.

Then Vacca asks her to fire one shot for him, which she does.
Then, Vacca tells the girl to adjust her stance and squeeze the trigger to let off a volley, but something goes wrong when she fires a second time.

His last words to the girl are: 'Alright, full auto.'

The girl loses her two-handed grip on the weapon and it pulls to her left, striking Vacca in the head.
Charles Vacca, a father and veteran from Lake Havasu City, Arizona, was airlifted to hospital on Monday morning after the little girl shot him but died that evening.

Mohave County Sheriff Jim McCabe said the full video of the incident was 'ghastly'.


Tragic: This screen grab shows the split second before the nine-year-old girl shoots Charles Vacca in the head. In the frame, the girl can clearly be seen to have lost her double handed grip on the Uzi as it recoils after firing. Her left hand is prized free as bullets fire (seen hitting behind the target circled in red). The gun is in her right hand and is clearly moving towards Vacca.


He said that the girl had successfully fired the weapon several times before when it was set on 'single shot' mode.
However, the horrific accident unfolded in a split second when the Israeli made weapon was set to 'full-automatic mode' and caused Vacca his fatal injuries.


'We really don't know what happened. Our guys are trained to basically hover over people when they're shooting. If they're shooting right-handed, we have our right-hand behind them ready to push the weapon out of the way. And if they're left-handed, the same thing,' operator Sam Scarmardo said.

Social media was incredulous about the tragic accident, with most people posting comments as to why a nine-year-old was allowed to fire an automatic weapon.

Liz Matthews of the John Clayton Show on 710 ESPN in Seattle said, 'A story involving a nine-year-old shooting an UZI at a place called Burgers and Bullets would have been appalling enough. Horrifying.'
Nikki Bateman simply asked, 'why you'd even let a nine year old handle a gun in the first place?!'
Cameron Atfield directed his anger at the parents stating he 'hoped the parents are charged.'
Friends paid tribute to Vacca, an army veteran and a married father, as a great friend and soldier on Facebook. Best friend Robert Vera said they often laughed so much that they couldn't breathe.
'He became a brother and a major part of my life through thick and thin,' Vera said. 'Rest In Peace brother.'

What was expected to happen has happened….

1/ Just the range entrance and name says it all really!!
"Burgers and Bullets" Just WTF?

2/ Don't mix firearms with play or with beer or food or burgers, what are all the Rambo and Schwarzenegger photos about?

If you don't respect firearms they won't respect you.
They are not for kids, not for play or to get a kick.
I have seen in my life many people go to the ranges just to act hard and pose with weapons for pictures to put on their facebook or show their chicks how tough they are. These people are dangerous on the ranges

3/ The instructor should not have been positionned that way and for a kid I would have stood more behind than to the side, this way I could grab the weapon if it starts going to the side without putting my life in danger and if the weapon goes up I can also bring it down and have better control.

4/ Why give a 9 year old an Uzi? She should have started shooting with a 22 handgun all day and when she gets older then she can start shooting with bigger calibers.
As for giving a 9 year old a bloody Uzi on full auto, its criminal and what can we say really, its a tragic accident but its like going fast on a motorbike when its raining and not wearing a helmet and then saying what a tragic accident it is.

On the ranges its safety safety safety, before during and after.
When you start to mix play with something serious then you get what you worked to get.  Simple as that. My thoughts go out to this instructor and his friends and family.

The 4 basic rules of Jeff Cooper, period. If you work by them, you're safe and it does not impede the efficience of training, nor does it impede your operational ability.

I have no problem with kids shooting that kind of weapons by principle, even kids shooting MG42 are OK to me... but if they don't have the strength to be safe by the said four rules, they shouldn't shoot, it's that simple.

I can imagine the dialog I would have had with that Vacca douchebag. I would have told him his safety system sucked and he would have replied he was a veteran and he knew what he was doing because he'd spent xxx many years in the military...

I just feel sorry for the little girl, no doubt she will suffer considerable psychological damage.

This is a tragedy that could have been completely avoided by a few simple safety measures.

Now for my rant:

Being ex-military or ex-law enforcement doesn't make you an instructor or a firearms expert, as most companies love to claim on their websites. I spent five years in the military including SF training and ten years as a cop, can I shoot? I like to think so. Does that qualify me to teach others, no it doesn't. I had to go through a specific instructor training program which smashed us on safety and teaching methodology and then operate under the guidance of a senior instructor for months before I was ever allowed to go it alone with a student.

Ranges like this 'burgers and bullets' take any old guy or gal who claims they're a veteran, they create the latest and greatest training package based on "real-world experience" and deliver it (poorly) to some unsuspecting civilian who now thinks they're prepared to take on the world and live. 

The only thing that surprises me about this unfortunate incident is that it isn't happening more often.

Great post Owen.
Burgers and bullets don't mix well together.

I am all for a few beers and a burger, but only after working hard at the range.