Michigan man dies in baby shower blast

GAINES TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) – A 26-year-old man was killed in an explosion that occurred during a baby shower.

Word of the incident comes from officials in Gaines Township, Michigan – during what appears to be a baby reveal gone tragically awry. They say a small cannon device fired in the backyard of a home blew up, spraying metal shrapnel that struck a man standing nearby. The man was taken in serious condition to a hospital in Flint, where he later died.

Three parked cars and the garage where the baby shower was being held were also struck by shrapnel.

In recent years, some gender-reveal events have taken a dangerous turn. In September, a couple’s plan to reveal their baby’s gender with blue or pink smoke sparked a wildfire that burned thousands of acres in Southern California. And in 2019, a homemade explosive used to reveal a baby’s gender killed 56-year-old woman in Iowa. The device was meant to spray powder but instead blew up like a pipe bomb.