--- description: A nine-year-old girl accidentally shot and killed a shooting range instructor in Arizona, police say. title: 9-Year-Old Girl Accidentally Shoots Instructor at Gun Range image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Guns](/tag/guns/) ## Guns Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 9-Year-Old Girl Accidentally Shoots, Kills Instructor at Gun Range  by [Noah Rayman](/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 26, 2014 10:59 PM CUT  by [Noah Rayman](/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 26, 2014 10:59 PM CUT A nine-year-old girl accidentally shot and [killed a shooting range instructor](http://resources.mohavecounty.us/File/Sheriff/PressReleasesArchives/2014/08-26-2014%5FPress%5FRelease.pdf "undefined") in Arizona, police say. Charles Vacca, 39, was instructing the girl on how to use an automatic Uzi on Monday when the girl, who was accompanied by her parents, pulled the trigger and then lost control of the weapon, the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Tuesday. Vacca was shot in the head and died of his injuries. Sam Scarmardo, the operator of the shooting range Last Stop where the accident occurred, said the range allows accompanied children age eight and older to handle weapons. He said Vacca, a longtime military veteran, had been working at the range for roughly two years. Scarmardo also said the range had not had an accident since it was opened more than a decade ago. The girl’s parents were recording the tutorial on their cell phones when the incident occurred and handed the footage over to authorities, according to Scarmardo. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3183289/9-year-old-girl-accidently-shoots-kills-gun-range-instructor-uzi/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3183289/9-year-old-girl-accidently-shoots-kills-gun-range-instructor-uzi/"},"headline":"9-Year-Old Girl Accidentally Shoots, Kills Instructor at Gun Range","datePublished":"2014-08-26T22:59:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:52:15.045Z","description":"The operator says it allows supervised children age eight and up to handle weapons","url":"https://time.com/3183289/9-year-old-girl-accidently-shoots-kills-gun-range-instructor-uzi/","keywords":["Guns","Veterans","Gun Control","Accident","States","Security","Civil Rights","Arizona"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Noah Rayman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/guns/","name":"Guns"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3183289/9-year-old-girl-accidently-shoots-kills-gun-range-instructor-uzi/","name":"9-Year-Old Girl Accidentally Shoots, Kills Instructor at Gun Range"}}]}] ```