Exploding cannon kills boy, 8

OLYMPIA – A small cannon exploded when it was fired during a Fourth of July family gathering at a rural home, fatally injuring an 8-year-old boy, Thurston County sheriff’s deputies said.

The boy was hit by a piece of metal about 8 p.m. Wednesday while standing about 100 feet from the cannon, and some of the other shrapnel was hurled as far as 234 feet, Chief Criminal Deputy Jim Chamberlain told the Associated Press. The boy died about an hour and a half later at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia.

The blast occurred at the home of the boy’s grandfather, and his parents also were present, Chamberlain said. No one had been arrested or charged as of Thursday morning.

Chamberlain said investigators were trying to determine when, where and how the cannon was manufactured. He said it was about a foot and a half long with a barrel 3 1/2 inches in diameter.

The blast occurred as nine adults and seven children were attending an Independence Day party at the grandfather’s home about six miles south of the capital city in a rural area between Littlerock and Tumwater.

“It was discharged intentionally as a part of the celebration,” Chamberlain said.

Investigators found at least one legal fireworks mortar shell and seized a large number of unexploded fireworks to determine whether any were illegal, he said.