Guest killed when cannon explodes at baby shower announcement party in Michigan

[left-of-center2012]

A Michigan man died on Saturday after he was hit with pieces of metal from a cannon that exploded after it was fired as a Michigan couple announced plans for a baby shower. Evan Thomas Silva, 26, was sent to the hospital after attending a small party in the backyard of a Gaines Township, Mich., couple as they announced their plans.

The cannon was meant to shoot into the air marking the occasion but exploded instead, local police said, sending hunks of the metal frame flying more than a dozen feet into the small crowd. One of the metal shards struck Silva in the chest, WJRT reported, causing serious injures. Silva died at a hospital in Flint hours later.

“The problem with things like this is when you use gunpowder and you’re using some sort of device without regular inspections on them, you may not see a hairline fracture in that device,” Lt. Liz Rich, a local police spokesperson told the New York Times. “There may have been too much gunpowder in there — that’s what our bomb squad suspects, that that’s the reason the entire thing exploded."

An investigation into the incident is ongoing.

https://thehill.com/homenews/537808-cannon-explodes-at-baby-shower-killing-guest

[COL Mustard]

1. That Will Leave A Mark

I hope that wasn't the guy's name.....

[left-of-center2012]

8. "That Will Leave A Mark ... I hope that wasn't the guy's name"

From the OP:

"Evan Thomas Silva, 26 ..."

[COL Mustard]

16. Reading Is Fundamental

And I don't always pay attention to the fundamentals.

[left-of-center2012]

19. About 2 years ago I posted a thread

Someone replied that they didn't understand what I was saying.

I jokingly replied that there are some free websites on 'reading comprehension'.

I was successfully alerted on for “No personal attacks or flaming”.

[COL Mustard]

20. I Try To Have More Fun At My Own Expense

As Jimmy Buffett once said, I keep 'em laughing so they don't pick me.

[mr_lebowski]

2. Someone else died at one of these like a year ago as well ...

Sweet mother of Dog some people are freaking stupid. Not the dead person here necessarily, but the person who though it was a good idea to mess with actual cannons and gunpowder for something like this.

Put some damn helium balloons in a box. Then open the lid and release pink or blue balloons. Or something LIKE that. FFS people.

[soothsayer]

4. Yeah just a few months ago I think

Well who knows; the year was a blur!

[FSogol]

3. Was it pink shrapnel or blue shrapnel?

[krispos42]

5. *snort*

[Irish_Dem]

6. They need to go back to just cake and punch.

A great deal safer.

[lunasun]

12. For real when you read about these showers Fires, Property damaged, Guest killed you have to ask

is this really how you want to announce your child coming in to the world ??

[Irish_Dem]

15. I know, such a violent and heart breaking way make an announcement about a baby.

Baby showers were always such a lovely, calm, pleasant experience.
Times have changed. Now you put your life at risk.

[mackdaddy]

7. Should have been a good guy with a cannon there.

Really how stupid do you have to be?

So they have proved an overstuffed cannon is basically a pipe bomb. Duh.

I wonder if they have to name the kid after the dead guy?

At least they are keeping the population level stable.

[Initech]

11. I seriously wonder how are these still a thing?

I mean shit, my house nearly burned down last year because it was in the path of the fire that was started by those douchebags that fired a cannon in a gender reveal party in dry brush on the fucking hottest day of the year! That one still...

[RussBLib]

9. Avoidable tragedy

That's the worst. An unavoidable tragedy you can get past.

[Initech]

10. Um... it's a boy?

[pandr32]

13. Why must we make events into extravaganzas?

It seems to me that average people want to have humongous 'look at me' moments. Not only are they fleeting, sometimes dangerous, but are enormously expensive.

[Vivienne235729]

14. People need to calm their asses down w these extreme gender reveals

I get the excitement, but channel it better. There was a fire due to one of these gender reveals. It is so over the top now. Why can’t people just cut a cake or pop a ballon to see what color confetti is inside.

[NewDayOranges]

17. Didn't a bunch of yahoos in California start a wildfire

With a fireworks display for their gender reveal party last summer?

[winstars]

18. Thats correct. It burned for a week or so...

[BusyBeingBest]

21. I feel sorry for this guy's family--he was a young man and everyone is treating his death

like a joke. It probably wasn't his idea to do this, he was just a guest--it was the hosts' stupid idea and now this young guy (same age as my son) is gone, in a horrible/painful way.

[Grammy23]

22. Probably time to scale back the insanity just a bit.

Announcement of gender is not the big deal it has turned into. Someone, somewhere got the bright idea to make it into a big hairy deal. Others decided to one up the last one. We had to know that idiots would screw it up for the rest who just wanted an excuse to get together with friends and family for a party.

Ditch the cannons and stick with colored cake batter. Family and friends will enjoy it just as much and nobody will end up dead.

[kskiska]

23. I'm old, but I remember back when those things were private.

Just a shower maybe a month or so before the due date and that was it, until the birth announcements. In some European countries it's bad luck to celebrate before the birth actually occurs.

[greenjar_01]

24. I'm sorry, it was a party to announce the baby shower, which is just another party?

It was a party to announce a party?

With a cannon?

Do I have all this right?

A man was hit with shrapnel and died after the misfire of a cannon at a party to announce a party?