SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A former western Massachusetts police chief who organized a gun fair was found not guilty of all charges in the 2008 death of an 8-year-old boy who accidentally shot himself in the head with an Uzi submachine gun.
Edward Fleury cried and hugged his attorney and fami
ly Friday after he was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter and three counts of furnishing machine guns to minors in the death of Christopher Bizilj on Oct. 26, 2008. Several of Christopher’s relatives quickly left the courtroom without commenting.
The former Pelham, Mass., police chief said he regretted holding the machine gun shoot and will never do it again.
“I want to express my heartfelt sympathy to the Bizilj family,” the 53-year-old Fleury told reporters in a courthouse hallway.
“It was always meant to be an educational event for people and it’s unfortunate this terrible accident happened.”
Fleury’s firearms training company co-sponsored the annual Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo at the Westfield Sportsman’s Club, about 10 miles west of Springfield. Christopher, of Ashford, Conn., was shooting a 9 mm micro Uzi at pumpkins when the gun kicked back and shot him in the head.
The jury was shown a graphic video of the shooting, taken by Christopher’s father, that led to a collective gasp in the courtroom.
Prosecutor William Bennett said he wouldn’t have done anything differently.
Bennett said he believed the organizers of the event were the people responsible for the boy’s death.
“We had a fair trial,” Bennett said. “We were able to make our case. The jury has spoken. We will live with that verdict.”
Asked why Christopher’s father, who let his two sons fire the Uzi, wasn’t charged, Bennett said, “I thought he was punished enough.”
The charges against Fleury carried up to 50 years in prison.
The jury returned the verdict on its first full day of deliberations.
Bennett said he will now consider what to do with the cases of two co-defendants, Domenico Spano of New Milford, Conn., and Carl Giuffre of Hartford, Conn., who have machine gun licenses and brought the Uzi and other automatic weapons to the expo that day.
Both have pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
Bennett said he will be meeting with a judge Tuesday to discuss those cases.
Fleury was chief for two decades at the small police department in Pelham, about 7 miles east of Amherst.
He went out on leave after the shooting accident, never returned to duty and eventually retired.
In 2003, Pelham officials took undisclosed administrative action against Fleury after he discharged a loaded rifle during a gun safety class he was teaching.
No one was injured and Fleury issued a public apology.
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