Cannon fired at baby shower explodes, killing 26-year-old man, Michigan police say

A baby shower in Michigan took a tragic turn Saturday after a cannon exploded during the party, police say.

Around 7:30 p.m., a Gaines Township homeowner fired a “small cannon-type device” in celebration at a backyard baby shower, Michigan Live reported.

When the cannon was fired, the device itself exploded, sending metal shrapnel flying into three parked cars as well as the garage where the party was held, according to the outlet.

Police say a 26-year-old man standing nearby was also hit by the shrapnel and seriously injured, WXYZ reported.

He was rushed to a hospital where he later died, according to the outlet.

Michigan State Police, the agency’s bomb squad and the Gaines Township Fire Department all responded to the scene, WDIV reported.

The incident remains under investigation, according to the outlet.

The name of the man who was killed has not been released.

Gaines Township is just south of Grand Rapids in western Michigan.

This isn’t the first baby shower or gender reveal celebration linked to tragedy.

In 2019, Pamela Kreimeyer, a 66-year-old grandmother, was killed at her Iowa home after a homemade gender-reveal device containing gun powder exploded, ABC News reported.

Metal shrapnel went flying, striking Kreimeyer in the head and killing her. Authorities said her family had inadvertently made a “pipe bomb,” according to the outlet.

Last year, a “smoke-generating pyrotechnic device” used at a gender reveal celebration in California started the El Dorado fire that burned thousands of acres across the southern part of the state, McClatchy News previously reported.

This story was originally published February 7, 2021 at 4:06 PM with the headline "Cannon fired at baby shower explodes, killing 26-year-old man, Michigan police say."