9-year-old in a nationally televised interview Friday.
Charles Vacca was shot in
the head Monday as he showed the New Jersey girl how to fire the
Israeli-made 9mm submachine gun. As she pulled the trigger, the gun
jumped out of her left hand toward Vacca, who was standing beside her.
The shooting was captured on video.
"We just want to make
sure they understand that we know it was a tragic accident and that it's
something that we're all going to have to live with," Vacca's
19-year-old daughter, Ashley, told NBC's "Today" show.
"My heart goes out to the
little girl, and I feel sorry for her and for her family," Vacca's
ex-wife, Anamarie, told the network.
The deadly incident
occurred at a gun range in Arizona that caters to Las Vegas tourists,
many of whom drive an hour from the gambling center to fire high-powered
weapons.
Ashley said she planned to write a letter to the girl and her family.
"He was a good person, but we know they are as well," she told the network.
Another daughter,
Elizabeth, said: "I wanted to make sure they didn't spend a big portion
of their life surrounding it around this one incident."
Opinion: Why is a 9-year-old firing an Uzi?
Chief Deputy Mohave County Attorney Jace Zack told CNN on Wednesday that prosecutors didn't foresee criminal charges.
The Mohave County Sheriff's Office said the girl was with her parents.
Authorities said the
death was being handled as an industrial accident, with state
occupational safety and health officials investigating. The federal
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also was notified.
An autopsy on Vacca was
completed, but the cause and manner of death were pending, said Colleen
Pitre, a representative of the medical examiner's office. She would not
say how many times Vacca was shot.
Cell phone video released by authorities Tuesday shows the moments before the fatal shots were fired, CNN affiliate KLAS reported.
In the video, Vacca and
the girl are at an outdoor range. The wind blows a target in the
distance. Vacca shows the child how to hold the gun and then helps her
establish her grip and her stance. She fires one round, and dirt flies
above the target. Vacca adjusts the Uzi, places his right hand on her
back and his left under her right arm.
She fires several rounds
in rapid succession, and the gun kicks to the left as she loses
control. The video ends before the fatal head shot. In releasing the
video, authorities did not identify who made it.
Experts say an Uzi can fire five rounds one-third of a second.
Bullets and Burgers, the
shooting range where the accident happened, is part of a tourism niche
offering packages costing up to $1,000 to shoot different high-powered
weapons. The range offers bachelorette parties, birthday celebrations
and wedding events. It is one of at least a dozen gun ranges in the Las
Vegas area catering to tourists from around the world.
The Bullets and Burgers
website says children between the ages of 8 and 17 can shoot a weapon if
accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Gun experts contacted by
CNN said young children should be taught to shoot with single-shot
firearms rather than submachine guns. They also said that safe learning
is connected to the ability and experience of the instructor.
In the interview on
"Today," Ashley, the victim's daughter, said: "We really do want the
prayers to be going out to the family of the little girl. Our thoughts
and our prayers are with them. We don't want their life to revolve
around this."
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