Gunpowder explosion kills man making cannon

[jeeper1]

May 25, 2007
OCEANSIDE: A 22-year-old man died in a gunpowder explosion while he and four friends tried to make a cannon in the backyard of a home yesterday, police said.


The victim's companions were not injured. Three ran from the home on Guinevere Street after the blast, but officers found and questioned them, Oceanside police Lt. Rick Sing said.
Sing said the young men cut the ends off of shotgun shells and were dumping the powder into a metal pipe. The explosion hit the man in the face. Sing said he didn't know what caused the powder to explode. “All indications are it was an accident,” he said.
The victim, whose name was not released, died at the scene.
Neighbors said they heard the blast and felt windows rattle about 5 p.m.
Police taped off the driveway leading to the house and evacuated at least a dozen homes on Guinevere and Squire Place. A sheriff's bomb-arson unit did not find any other explosives.
Resident Bob Fees described the Guinevere Street cul-de-sac as tight-knit, with family connections among several households. Some people sobbed and comforted each other as they stood outside the yellow police tape last night.
Luke Henika, 10, said he was playing on his computer when he heard a boom. He said he first thought it had come from Camp Pendleton. Police evacuated him and his mother from their house. –K.D. and P.R.


Oceanside is in San Diego county Ca.

[Santa Dave]

The local paper described the "piece" as a Flame throwing cannon. 3" by 2 feet and he was looking down the barrel after dumping in the powder from a bunch of shotgun shells, they also said there was no other powder in the area. ( he was about a mile from my home, we live so near Camp Pendelton that another concussion wouldn't even be noticed. the 1250lb line charges really rattle the windows though)
the article also said 30-40 family members arrived at the scene during it's processing.
Thought: it sounds more like a bomb than a cannon. (I'll bet they hadn't even figured out a way to mount it!)
Santa Dave

[Cat Whisperer]

Several things come to mind.

1. It was an unfortunate event.

2. Darwin award?

3. You've got to be tough if you're stupid.

None of us LIKE reading about these.  ALL of us need to be reminded from time-to-time anyway.

Thanks.

[GGaskill]

...cut the ends off of shotgun shells and were dumping the powder into a metal pipe.

Besides stupidity, how many rules were violated?  Smokeless powder, pipe.  He was probably ramming the charge heavily, too.  Can't rely too much on "news" reports for the facts, either.

[jeeper1]

 Gunpowder blast victim identified

May 26, 2007

OCEANSIDE: A 21-year-old Oceanside man who died after a homemade explosive device blew up has been identified as Nedrick Aaron Walker.


Walker suffered fatal head injuries in the explosion in a backyard Thursday, a spokesman with the county Medical Examiner's Office said yesterday.

Police said Walker and a couple of friends tried to make a cannon by dumping shotgun powder into a pipe at a home on Guinevere Place.

The device, which was supposed to shoot flames out one end, was pointed at a tree when Walker went to ignite it. The flames instead shot out the back, police said. –K.D.

[Santa Dave]

From Saturday's North County Times:
The object was two inches by three feet. It was SUPPOSED to be a Special effects type flame thrower.
The tubing was thin-wall (Fence post material)
it was to be ignited by striking it with a hammer. (I suppose a primer.)
It has been determined that it was an accident.
He was dead before he hit the ground.
Santa Dave

[hammermill]

 ???i have to wonder as the info doesnt add up.flame projectors always shoot a flame up and i have never experienced a detonation in or with one  that said other details are missing
if you are hit in the face with the tubes flames they would sear the nose throat and lungs which would cause them to fill with fluids and you drown,

[longcaribiner]

Obviously the press doesn't care enough to be accurate and amateur cannon and mortar affectionados get a bad reputation for being unsafe.   

When I got my first cannon (a little model but firing cannon, some relatives had a fit and wouldn't let me fire blanks at a family picnic.)  They are dangerous, you know.  When I got a three wheel ATV, everybody had a fit, regardless of the fact that it has a lower center of gravity and a wider wheel base and a better safety record than most 4 wheel ATV's.

When I got my first flint lock rifle, all I heard was how dangerous they are. 

All because of stupid people and stupid reporters!   

NJ is already trying to outlaw possession and manufacturing of guns and ammo in calibers over .50  I'm certain this incident will cause the idiots in trenton to save the world from cannons and mortars. 

[Cat Whisperer]

BUT you could put your eye out with that thing!

 

[GGaskill]

You must be describing a pencil or pen.  :-)  Can't take a dangerous object like that into a school.

(or paraphrasing the adults in A Christmas Story)

[lesmoore]

May 25, 2007
OCEANSIDE: A 22-year-old man died in a gunpowder explosion while he and four friends tried to make a cannon in the backyard of a home yesterday, police said.

-------------------------------------

At 22 yrs old you would think he would have better sense.....  I did a lot of stupid things when I was a kid and I'm just lucky to be alive.  When I was 12,  I learned you could mix 'weed killer' with sugar and make an explosive.  I tried to make a 'roman candle' by placing alternate layers of the deadly mixture, toilet paper, and rocks in a pipe.  It fizzed and shot out a few rocks but was soon discarded as a failure.

We moved out of the neighborhood but 5 years later I got a phone call asking me about that pipe.  The kid that moved into our old house had found a pipe out by the woodpile and started using it as a fireplace poker.  The pipe exploded and the boy was injured and had to be stitched up.  It could have been worse..... and it could have been me.