An excited dad-to-be was tragically killed in a freak accident when the device he was building for his wife’s gender reveal party exploded. Christopher Pekny, 28 and from Liberty, New York, was building the device at home just before noon on Sunday, February 21 when the explosion happened, killing Pekny and injuring his brother Michael, 27, police said in a statement.
- Authorities are currently unsure what caused the explosion. According to the New York Times, the device Pekny and his brother were building consisted of “some kind of pipe,” but no further details were available. The New York State Police and its bomb disposal unit are said to be investigating further.
- Pekny’s oldest brother Peter described what happened as a freak accident. The 34-year-old said during a telephone interview that while he had no idea why the explosion took place or any further information about the incident, the tragic loss was “the freakiest of freak accidents that I could ever imagine.” Peter went on to say that Christopher and Michael were pretty savvy when it came to building things, adding that they are “very mechanically inclined” and that “they could fix and do anything.”
- Christopher learned his girlfriend was expecting just before Christmas. Peter said that the couple knew they were having a boy but that the gender reveal party would let their wider circle in on the good news. He admitted that when he received a call on Sunday, he first thought it was a joke and a ploy to get him to the party earlier since he was 45 miles away at the time. However, when he discovered his brothers were indeed in trouble, he raced to Liberty.
- Christopher will now miss out on getting to know his son and being a father. “He was really looking forward to starting a family,” Peter said of Christopher. “He was really starting to settle down and grow up.” He would have turned 29 on Tuesday, February 23.
- This is only the latest in gender reveal party disasters. Earlier this month, a Michigan man was killed after shrapnel from a cannon explosion punctured his vital organs. It makes you question just how necessary these dangerous displays truly are.
