A 9-Year-Old's Gun Lesson Ends Tragically

An accident in Arizona has left one man dead and one young girl completely traumatized. During a shooting lesson at Bullets and Burgers gun range in White Hills, a 9-year-old accidentally shot her instructor, Charles Vacca, in the head. The instructor was teaching the girl how to use an automatic Uzi when she lost control of the firearm. Vacca, 39, was airlifted to University Medical Center in Las Vegas for treatment, but doctors were unable to save him.

Bullets and Burgers owner Sam Scarmardo says he doesn't understand how the situation escalated, given Vacca's training. "We really don't know what happened," he told a local news outlet. "Our guys are trained to basically hover over people when they're shooting." He adds that instructors are also trained to push weapons out of the students' hands if things go awry.

Prior to the incident, you had to be 8 years of age or older to shoot at Bullets and Burgers. But Scarmardo has since changed the rules, requiring shooters to be at least 12 years old or stand at least 5 feet tall.