LIBERTY, New York — A 28-year-old dad-to-be was killed when an explosive device he and his brother were preparing for a gender reveal party detonated unexpectedly, police said.
Christopher Pekny was working on the device that was to announce that he and his girlfriend were having a boy, when it exploded in his garage in Liberty, N.Y., killing him and wounding his brother, Michael Pekny, 27, New York State police said.
The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear.
Pekny’s death was the latest in a number of mishaps tied to explosives being used for gender reveal parties.
Explosive devices used at gender-reveal events have been linked to at least two deaths since 2019 and two major wildfires.
A 26-year-old man died in Michigan this month after he was hit with shrapnel from “a small cannon type device” that exploded when it was fired in celebration at a baby shower, the authorities said.
