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John David Cook, Jr., 52, of Baytown, died in a hospital after a Christmas Day accident involving a flare gun, the Chambers County Sheriff's Office said.

Cook was working with the flare gun on the patio of his home, investigators said.

His wife told deputies that she was awakened by her husband’s screams and found him in the living room.

His hands were severely injured and he had an open wound in his chest, authorities said.

He was flown by helicopter to a hospital where he later died.

http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/Flar ... 47571.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Darwin . . .

It appears that the deceased man may have been working on something to brighten up his New Years Eve celebration.


http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?secti ... id=9373840" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I bet that hurt pretty bad.

Oldgringo wrote:I bet that hurt pretty bad.

I am sure that it did. At least his misguided actions didn't hurt any bystanders.

I've shot a lot of stuff out of a 40mm M203 and the 37mm tube is not much smaller. Definitely not something one should be playing with or firing off in a residential neighborhood.

If you're going to off yourself, do it with flare.

Dragonfighter wrote:If you're going to off yourself, do it with flare.

That's morbid, but hilarious.

What work could you do on a flare gun. Maybe taking apart a flare to see what make it tick.

suthdj wrote:What work could you do on a flare gun. Maybe taking apart a flare to see what make it tick.

Investigators believe Cook was building a larger explosive device from fireworks and using a 37mm launcher when things went wrong. They believe he was attempting to fire it in the backyard of his home when it exploded in his hands.

WildBill wrote:

suthdj wrote:What work could you do on a flare gun. Maybe taking apart a flare to see what make it tick.

Investigators believe Cook was building a larger explosive device from fireworks and using a 37mm launcher when things went wrong. They believe he was attempting to fire it in the backyard of his home when it exploded in his hands.

You can't fix stupid

WildBill wrote:

suthdj wrote:What work could you do on a flare gun. Maybe taking apart a flare to see what make it tick.

Investigators believe Cook was building a larger explosive device from fireworks and using a 37mm launcher when things went wrong. They believe he was attempting to fire it in the backyard of his home when it exploded in his hands.

Yep that would do it, I read a different article that did not have those details.

First article made it sound like an accident. Updates make it more obvious that he was messing with some dangerous stuff on purpose. Also, car alarms go off, neighbors feel the explosion several houses away, but the wife wakes up to his screams? I'm guessing the explosion would have been her first clue something was wrong.

OK, so some honesty here...this was no flare accident, but when I was a kid - I think I was 10 or 12 the last time I demonstrated this for a friend - but I used to make "angels" with used fire crackers. When I was much smaller, my older brothers would pop fireworks with their teen aged friends, of course, the little kid brother was left out. So, I picked up all the used Black Cats I could find, unrolled them, poured the residue onto a piece of paper, lit up a match, and "POOF", a small puff of grey smoke. Not sure why we called them angels, but that was it. I was probably 6 or 7 first time I tried it and I thought "that was cool...I'm so smart!!!" Then, I hope mom or dad wasn't watching!" I was good for one or two angels during 4th of July & New Years fireworks seasons until I was big enough to run with the big boys.

Thank goodness nothing bad happened, but that was my little story, not sure why I shared it, just tought it was funny.

My best friend's older brother wasn't so lucky.
He tried to make a rocket from an empty CO2 cartridge and match heads.
When he decided to launch it, he blew off the tip of his index finger and the top knuckle of his thumb.
He was around 12 years old at the time.