Utah Law Talk

A student attending Deseret Hills High School in St. George, Utah, is dead after a gunshot from a gun loaded with blanks inflicted a severe head injury on him. According to KSL. com, the student, Tucker Thayer, was involved in his school’s production of Oklahoma and had the school-provided gun because of his involvement with the musical’s tech crew. Students and staff preparing for the night’s production reported hearing a loud bang and they rushed to find him lying on the ground unconscious. St. George police Sgt. James Van Fleet said that the injury was caused by the explosive pressure coming out of the gun and the close range that it was to its user’s head. He also told the media that “it was determined that a responsible adult would be supervising the use of the weapon at all times.” An investigation is ongoing as to exactly how this could have happened and why there wasn’t adequate supervision in this case

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

It is no secret that real guns shooting blanks can kill people. Once such high-profile death was to Jon-Erik Hexum, a star of the early 1980s series “Cover Up.” Back in October 1984, he placed a gun loaded with blanks to his head and pulled the trigger.

See what happens when a gun fires blanks.

Because staff had determined that there would be adult supervision at all times, they then obviously knew of the possible dangerous nature of this gun.

While many see this as just an unfortunate accident, some are asking why a real gun was allowed at school in the first place. Others questions include: where was the responsible adult that was supposed to be supervising the proper handling of this weapon? Was there any training given to this child about the dangerous nature of this weapon? And although Thayer was certified as a scout firearm instructor, was he aware and trained as to the lethality of guns carrying blanks? There are a lot of questions that need to be answered. Ultimately, and sadly, this firearm accident should never have happened. Although it appears that young Tucker pulled the trigger, he should never have been left alone with this dangerous weapon. The school district bears a good portion of the responsibility here and should be held accountable for what happened.

Ron Kramer is a Utah personal injury attorney practicing in Salt Lake County, Utah.

Published by: Ron Kramer

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 16th, 2008 at 1:17 pm and is filed under Childrens Injuries, Personal Injury. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.