- A man in upstate New York died while assembling an explosive for his child’s gender reveal party.
- State police confirmed that there was no malicious intent.
- Christopher Pekny’s death follows a line of disasters revolving around gender reveal parties.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
An Upstate New York father-to-be died when a bomb he was assembling for his child’s gender reveal party exploded on Sunday, according to the Syracuse Post-Standard.
New York State Police confirmed in a press release that Christopher Pekny, 28, was killed at his home in Liberty, New York. Authorities also confirmed WABC that Pekny was the father-to-be of the child who was the subject of the gender reveal party.
State Police said that around noon on Sunday, they responded to reports of an explosion at Pekny’s home. Pekny’s brother, Michael Pekny, was with Christopher at the time of the explosion and suffered injuries.
An initial investigation determined that Pekny died as a result of the explosion.
Trooper Steven Nevel, a local spokesman for the state police, told the Times Herald-Record that Pekny’s explosive device “was not being built or made for malicious purposes.”
State police said that they will continue to investigate the incident, alongside the NYS Police Bomb Disposal Unit.
Pekny's death follows a line of tragedies and disasters stemming from the trend of gender reveal parties.
In 2020, the El Dorado wildfire, which scorched more than 7,000 acres in San Bernardino, California, was started by a faulty smoke machine at a gender reveal party.
Similarly, in 2018 in Arizona, a gender reveal party ignited the Sawmill Fire, which burned 45,000 acres.
In early February, a guest at a Michigan gender reveal party was killed after gunpowder inside a celebratory cannon exploded and sent pieces of metal shrapnel flying in the air.
Jenna Karvunidis, a blogger credited with starting the viral trend over a decade ago, condemned the parties after the El Dorado wildfire.
"Stop it," Karvunidis wrote on Facebook. "Stop having these stupid parties. For the love of God, stop burning things down to tell everyone about your kid's penis."
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