A BOY of eight died after shooting himself in the head with an Uzi sub-machine gun.
Christopher Bizilj was aiming at a pumpkin at a gun fair when the weapons recoil forced it to jerk upwards sending a bullet into his skull.

His distraught dad Charles admitted last night: I gave permission for him to fire.



Scene ... where lad shot himself in the head

He went on: I watched several other children and adults use the Uzi. Its a small weapon, and Christopher was comfortable with guns. There were larger machine guns with more recoil, and we avoided those.

Christopher died in hospital. His dad, a hospital medical director, said his son had previous experience firing handguns, but had never fired an automatic weapon before.

Dr Bizilj added: Christopher will be sorely, sorely missed. My son was very cautious, very well trained, and very much enjoyed firing.

He said the family were coming to terms with Sundays incident in Westfield, Massachusetts, which he described as a terrible accident.

It is legal in America for children to fire a weapon if they have parental permission.

Although police called it a self-inflicted accidental shooting, officers are investigating.

Charges
But it is believed to be unlikely that any charges will follow.




District Attorney William Bennett said: We are going to review all the circumstances regarding what happened who was involved, and who was supervising.

Westfield Sportsmans Club, which runs the gun fair, said it was all legal and fun.

People are allowed to fire weapons at vehicles, pumpkins and other targets, it said.

The Israeli-made Uzi sub-machine gun is used by over 90 armed forces.

Its lightweight design, at about 7lb, has made it a favourite with bodyguards and for fighting at close-quarters.