N.J. girl in Arizona Uzi accident not 9-year-old competitive shooter from Franklin Township, father says | NJ.com

Dan Roberts has been fielding calls all morning from people concerned his daughter Shyanne was the 9-year-old New Jersey girl who killed a firearms instructor  with a fully-automatic weapon at an Arizona shooting range Monday.

Shyanne — a highly trained competitive shooter who turns 10 on Thursday — was not the girl in the Arizona accident, Roberts said, but whoever the girl is, she should not be held at fault, he added.”

[The instructor] never should have been off to one side or the other. It’s called the 180-degree rule,” said Roberts, a weapons instructor from Franklin Township, Gloucester County.”

There’s nothing inherently wrong with a 9-year-old shooting [fully automatic weapon],” Roberts said. “It just has to be done under very strictly controlled circumstances.”

Charles Vacca, 39, of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, died Monday, a short time after being airlifted to a hospital in Las Vegas, authorities said.

Vacca was standing beside the girl, whose name was not released, at the Last Stop outdoor shooting range when she pulled the trigger of the Uzi. The recoil sent the gun over her head and a round hit the instructor.

The girl reportedly was at the White Hills range, called “Bullets and Burgers,” with her parents.

Mohave County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Trish Carter told the Las Vegas Review-Journal the family was vacationing from New Jersey, but there was no mention of their home town.

Carter did not immediately return the South Jersey Times request for additional details Tuesday morning.

read more about how 9 year old girl kills instructor in shooting range accident via N.J. girl in Arizona Uzi accident not 9-year-old competitive shooter from Franklin Township, father says | NJ.com.