Homemade cannon kills Iowa woman at backyard gathering

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

As Americans celebrated the Fourth of July holiday weekend with parties and fireworks, authorities said an eastern Iowa woman was killed when a homemade cannon exploded at a backyard gathering.

Davenport television station KWQC-TV reported that 55-year-old Lori L Heims of Edgewood was flown to an Iowa City hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The Delaware County sheriff’s department said Heims was injured at the gathering with friends in Greeley around 11.40pm on Saturday.

Investigators said the cannon was loaded and fired, and when it went off the rear portion of the barrel blew out and sent fragments toward Heims. One of the fragments struck her in the head.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/04/fourth-of-july-iowa-death

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Associated Press in Greeley, Iowa
Monday 4 July 2016 18.55 BST

[cheapdate]

1. I'm not an expert, but casting and boring a cannon is a major undertaking.

[jtuck004]

3. More likely an open-ended pipe bomb. People take a length of pipe, cap it,

drill a hole, drop in a firecracker and leave one at the opening, light both at once.

The more adventurous pack powder down in there, with a fuse, shoot a variety of things out the opening.

I would bet hundreds of these are made every year.

Pipe isn't made for this, obviously.

[cheapdate]

4. I remember from thermodynamics class

a long, long, time ago that some guy (Joule, maybe?) formulated a theory for the mechanical equivalent of heat based on his observations of the heat produced by boring cannon barrels.

[jtuck004]

5. I didn't know that, thank you. n/t

[Hoppy]

7. Is this like a potato gun? Plastc pipe, hole drilled on side, fueled with hair spray?

[jtuck004]

8. Steel pipe. More pressure, and with gunpowder. n/t

[getagrip_already]

12. if a little is fun..

a lot will be much more fun, riiiighttt?

[bucolic_frolic]

2. I hope

her conscious suffering and panic, if any, was short. What a horrible thing.

[Demobrat]

6. Yes I agree

Hope she never knew what hit her.

[Night Watchman]

9. "Homemade Cannon"

Two words that cannot result in anything good happening!

[JVS]

14. Artisanal Cannon sounds so much better.

[Sancho]

10. Town of 256 people...

Must not be much to do...

[Nihil]

11. Well now they get to go to a funeral ...

... as well as the manslaughter trial for whichever cretin(s) thought that was a good idea ...

[Blue_Tires]

15. +1

[uawchild]

16. Are gun laws to blame?

Would this women be alive if she was allowed to legally own a 150 mm howitzer? If howitzers are outlawed, only outlaws will have howitzers says it all, don't you think?

/sarcasm off