A New York man died and his brother was injured on Sunday when a small explosive device intended to be used as part of a gender reveal party malfunctioned and exploded.
In a statement, New York State Police said they responded to reports of an explosion in Liberty, NY, and found that 28-year-old Christopher Pekny and his brother Michael Pekny, 27, had built the device at the time of the accident. .
Peter Pekny, Christopher and Michael’s older brother, told The Washington Post that Michael Pekny sustained a shattered kneecap in the explosion, but is expected to make a full recovery. According to the Post, Christopher Pekny was planning a gender reveal party to celebrate the birth of his first child.
“It has been two consecutive nights of not being able to sleep, waiting, hoping to hear that this is all a crazy misunderstanding,” Peter Pekny told the newspaper. “But we all know this is not the reality here.”
Gender-revealing parties have been the source of chaos in recent years, with one being blamed for the 2020 El Dorado fire in California that injured a dozen people, killed a firefighter and destroyed 10 buildings.
A man died at a gender reveal party he attended as a guest earlier this month after a cannon intended to fire a shot in the air exploded and engulfed guests with shrapnel.