An 11-year-old Indiana child and an 18-year-old Minnesota man died due to separate fireworks incidents over Fourth of July weekend.
The first incident took the life of 11-year-old Camrynn Ray Sunday night in Mount Vernon, Indiana.
Indiana State Police Sgt. Todd Ringle said Posey County 911 Dispatch was called at 9:42 p.m. about a serious injury. The boy died while being taken to an Evansville hospital.
Further information will come following completion of an autopsy on Tuesday, Ringle said. The investigation also includes the Mount Vernon Police Department.
Camrynn was an honor roll student who loved playing sports and making people laugh, his mother, Kyrra McMichael, told the Evansville Courier & Press, part of the USA TODAY Network.
“No matter the situation he tried to be happy,” Kyrra McMichael said in a social media message. “He loved his little sister, Karmynn Louise McMichael. He protected her like a big brother should! He was an all-around, American boy trying to get himself a scholarship to go to college and be in the NFL or NBA. He’s every parent’s dream of a boy … And because boys are boys, they play with fireworks (and) he is gone. In the blink of an eye. Literally.”
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During the second incident, fireworks exploded in an 18-year-old’s face in a Minneapolis suburb. He died early Monday morning, the Associated Press reported.
The incident was the first publicly reported death in Minnesota from fireworks this year, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Police in Brooklyn Park responded to the scene around 1:30 a.m. Monday. Officers said they found a man with severe wounds to his head and face, and a friend who was performing CPR on him. The man later died at a local hospital.
Nationally, nine people died last year from fireworks-related injuries.
Contributing: Evansville Courier & Press, Associated Press
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