A New York man died and his brother was injured on Sunday when a small explosive device that was to be used as part of a gender party was defective and exploded.
In a statement, New York State Police said they responded to reports of an explosion in Liberty, NY, and found that Christopher Pekny, 28, and his brother Michael Pekny, 27, were building the device at the time of the accident. .
Peter Pekny, Christopher and Michael’s older brother, told The Washington Post that Michael Pekny had a broken kneecap in the explosion, but he must fully recover. Christopher Pekny was planning a gender reveal party to celebrate the birth of his first child, according to the Post.
“It was two nights in a row without being able to sleep, waiting, waiting to hear that all this is a crazy misunderstanding,” Peter Pekny told the newspaper. “But we all know that this is not the reality here.”
Gender reveal parties have been the source of chaos in recent years, with one being blamed for the 2020 El Dorado fire in California, which injured a dozen people, killed a fireman and destroyed 10 buildings.
A man died at a gender reveal party he was attending as a guest earlier this month after a cannon that was supposed to fire into the air exploded, sending shrapnel to the guests.