Posted on 03/06/2012 9:17:53 PM PST by nickcarraway
Richard Fox, 39, is charged with firing the cannon that killed his 38-year -old girlfriend
A man was injured and his wife killed when a cannon was fired into a mobile home in San Diego's East County.
Richard Fox, 39, is charged with firing the cannon that killed his 38-year -old girlfriend.
Deputies said Fox called 911 early Tuesday to report his wife may have been killed with a homemade cannon by accident.
Emergency crews arrived around 12:30 a.m. to the location on Potrero Valley Road in a rural section of San Diego near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Fox and another man had been working on the cannon outside the home in the Twin Lakes Resort mobile home park when it fired, sending a projectile into the home officials said.
Deputies said Fox loaded the cannon with powder from fireworks.
Shrapnel from the explosion went into the side of the trailer, killing Fox's girlfriend according to deputies. When deputies and U.S. Border Patrol agents arrived, they found the unidentified woman dead from injuries she suffered after the projectile damaged the home.
One of the two men working on the cannon was taken to Sharp Memorial Hospital.
A four-year-old girl that was inside home was not injured and is being cared for by neighbors.
Deputies that responded to the scene were heavily armed with assault rifles in an area where trailers and mobile homes were accessible only by a dirt road.
Investigators were waiting for a search warrant to stay on the property in order to complete a more extensive search.
Sgt. David Martinez with the San Diego County Sheriff's Dept. said it's legal to own a cannon but is not necessarily legal to fire it.
No word if alcohol or drugs were involved.
Looks life it was his wife... God rest her soul.
Meanwhile, where does reference to “girlfriend” come from? I don’t get it?
*smiles, shakes head, decides not to comment*
Lot of things in this story don’t add up. He’s “working” on the cannon while it is loaded with powder? And it’s aimed at their home?
Stupid and/or drunk would explain that, I suppose. Making a homemade cannon probably isn’t the smartest action one could take (unless you know your metallurgy and what not). I think I’ll stick to Mentos and 2-liters of diet soda.
“Woman Killed by Cannon, Boyfriend Charged”
“killed his 38-year -old girlfriend”
“A man was injured and his wife killed”
“that killed his 38-year -old girlfriend.”
“to report his wife may have “
Headline and first four sentences, the LSM doesn’t even try anymore. Disgusting.
I find typos/mistakes in so many articles today. Very crappy reporting.
>> No word if alcohol or drugs were involved.
“This is gonna be good. Here, hold muh beer...”
There seems to be a case to be made for compound stupidity here at the very least.
Firecracker powder isn’t an propellent; it’s an explosive.
Loading it into any muzzle loading gun, especially a home made cannon, is not a particularly bright thing to do, even if you want to fire a blank with a light paper wad. Load a projectile in front of it and you are really asking for trouble. These ignorant dipwads certainly have no concept of “pressure spikes” or any such phenomenon, do they?
Having it pointed at the occupied house trailer while lighting it off suggests a critically acute level of stupidity, inebriation, or a combination thereof.
I wonder if someone said “Hold my beer and watch this!” before flicking their bic over the touch-hole. How does that term go in Spanish by the way?
It sounds as if they blew it up on themselves - not surprisingly. Unfortunately the potential Darwin Award winner muffed up and wasted his significant other of some sort or another rather than himself. Pity that.
At least thank God the child was spared.
I love how the shrapnel just appears in the story out of nowhere. You put powder in the cannon, and then shrapnel comes out. How odd.
It was a projectile, then it was shrapnel, then it was a projectile again. I think the “reporter” is just trying to cover his bases. I’m surprised he didn’t employ the term “thingy”.
If he used the powder from a firework, the incandescent metal ‘stars’, might be the the ‘shrapnel’ the reporter was talking about.
Given the changing terminology in the story, perhaps the reporter should have written, “Something happened here. I don’t know what. My paper is sending a 3rd grader to help me sort things out.”
Maybe the shrapnel was parts of the cannon? If true, that would mean the cannon wasn’t necessarily aimed at the mobile home.
That's because it goes without saying ; D
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