A man expecting his first child was murdered on Sunday and his brother was injured when a device they were preparing for a gender reveal party exploded in a garage in the Catskills in New York, authorities said.
New York State Police said troopers responded just before noon to a report of an explosion at a home in the city of Liberty, New York. Christopher Pekny, 28, died and his brother Michael Pekny, 27, was injured, officials said.
What triggered the explosion remains under investigation, a state police spokesman, trooper Steven Nevel, said. The device consisted of some sort of pipe intended for use at a gender-revealing party, but the nature of the explosive material was not yet known, he said.
Peter Pekny Jr., 34, the oldest of the brothers, called what happened “the most bizarre accidents I could have ever imagined,” although he did not know what triggered the blast, he said in a phone interview Monday.
He said his brother Michael was in stable condition at a hospital in Middletown, NY, and doctors were able to rebuild a damaged knee.
Explosives used in gender reveal events have been linked to at least two deaths since 2019 and two major wildfires. The parties are a popular way for couples to announce pregnancy news on Facebook and Instagram.
A 26-year-old man died in Michigan this month after being hit with shrapnel from “a small cannon-like device” that exploded when fired in celebration of a baby shower, authorities said.
Peter Pekny said his brothers were “very mechanically inclined” and that “they could fix and do anything.”
He described Christopher as a gifted mechanic who loved to rebuild engines and take apart and reassemble cars. Christopher and Michael were redecorating a rented house in Ferndale, a hamlet in the city of Liberty about 112 miles northwest of New York City, their brother said.
Mr. Pekny said Christopher earned the nickname Frankenstein while working at Liberty Concrete, where he worked as a bricklayer.
“What he picked up and moved would have cost three people,” he said. “I’ve seen him pick up engines because they got in the way.”
He said Christopher Pekny was 6 feet tall and weighed 250 pounds. While playing football in high school, he once bumped into another player so forcefully that he broke the player’s helmet in half, he recalled.
“He had the hardest head I’ve ever seen,” he said.
Christopher Pekny learned just before Christmas that his girlfriend was pregnant and that they were having a boy, said Peter Pekny.
Mr. Pekny said he received a call from family members on Sunday – the day of the party – while he was in Florida, New York, about 43 miles away. At first he thought the call was a ruse to get him to the party early, but when he heard the news, he raced to Liberty on Route 17, sometimes faster than 100 miles per hour.
He said he blew through a state agent, who pulled him to the side and started yelling at him. Mr. Pekny said he had explained why he was speeding, and after the trooper went to his patrol car and checked the radio to verify his story, he returned to Mr. Pekny’s pickup truck.
He said the trooper said to him, “You must go” and did not give him a ticket. “The color had completely disappeared from his face,” Mr. Pekny said of the trooper. “He looked like he’d seen two ghosts.”
As boys, Michael and Christopher were inseparable and remained so into adulthood. “If you could think of two people who were the two closest people — tenfold that,” said Mr. Pekny.
Growing up, Mr. Pekny said, he was rough with his younger brothers and did not share their bond. That had recently started to change, he said, and they were getting closer.
“He was really looking forward to starting a family,” he said of Christopher. “He really started to settle down and grow up.”
The Pekny family owns the Robin Hood Diner, a mainstay in Livingston Manor, an area of the Catskills known for its trout fishing.
Christopher, who would have turned 29 Tuesday, waited tables and tended a bar there. He said goodnight to his father on Saturday and said he would see him in the morning, Mr. Pekny said.
A Facebook post on the restaurant’s page said, “We appreciate the overwhelming love and support you have all shown. The Robin Hood will be closed for the foreseeable future. “