In recent years, gender reveal parties have grown in popularity. Parents have differing opinions on how to reveal their baby’s gender in front of family and friends.
This party is always jam-packed with party poppers, smoke bombs, cake slicing, and other surprises! What could possibly go wrong at such a happy and exciting time?
This wonderful event turned out to be a tragedy for one Iowa family when a grandmother was killed instantly during a gender reveal party.
Palmer Kreimeyer, 56, was killed after he was hit in the head by flying debris, a piece of metal from an explosive device designed to emit either pink or blue smoke.
She is the soon-to-be grandmother, but their use of a ‘homemade pipebomb’ for the gender reveal ended in a terrible disaster.
“Our investigation revealed that members of the Kreimeyer family were experimenting with different types of explosive material on Friday and Saturday in an attempt to record a gender reveal that could be posted on social media for friends and family,” the Marion County Sheriff Department told the New York Times.
The family built their stand, which was soldered to a metal base. It included gunpowder, which would set off the revealing device. It was supposed to produce blue or pink smoke.
Palmer and his colleagues were around 14 meters (45 feet) away from the gender reveal equipment. The grandma was slain fast and pronounced dead at the scene, according to CNN. A shard of metal crashed into her with such force that it did not stop there. It flew about 400 feet before landing in the field.
Cops also discovered that the family had been tinkering with various homemade devices. They desired the ‘perfect’ disclosure. Something that their families and friends have never seen before. They want their viewers to record and share the entire reveal on social media. Their experimentation, on the other hand, went a little too far.
“On Saturday afternoon, five family members and an expectant woman gathered and placed gunpowder in the bottom of a homemade stand that was welded to a metal base plate,” according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
According to the statement, “a hole was drilled in the side for a fuse, a piece of wood was placed on top of the gunpowder, and colored powder was sprinkled on top of the board.”
The tape was then wrapped over the top of the metal tube, resulting in the unintentional creation of a pipe bomb. The stand burst, throwing metal shards everywhere, instead of the powder being launched out the top of the stand by the explosion.”
Everyone was taken off guard by the huge blast. They had no idea this would lead to their grandmother’s death. During the reveal, other family members were standing nearby, but she was the only one hit by the debris.
Because of this terrible incident, police encourage people to utilize any explosive device with extreme caution. It is best to avoid making any homemade devices. Why not simply use confetti? Or maybe something less heinous?
You can be guaranteed that everyone is safe and secure in this manner.
