The small Connecticut town of Ashford was reeling Monday, the day after a third-grade resident shot himself in the head while firing an Uzi submachine gun at a Massachusetts gun fair, police said.

Police said 8-year-old Christopher Bizilj lost control of the weapon while firing it Sunday at the Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo at the Westfield Sportsman's Club in Westfield, Mass. Westfield police Lt. Lawrence Vallier said the accident occurred at about 2 p.m.

Christopher was with his father and a certified instructor at the time of the accident, police said.

“The 8-year-old boy was allowed to shoot a .9 mm micro Uzi machine gun,” said police Lt. Hipolito Nunez. “The weapon was loaded and prepared by the instructor and handed to the 8-year-old boy. The 8-year-old boy fired the weapon, the front end of the weapon raised up to his head, and a round struck him in the head.”

Police called Christopher's injury the result of a "self-inflicted accidental shooting."
Westfield police said that when officers arrived at the scene, Christopher was lying on the ground with a gunshot wound to the right side of his head.
He was taken to Baystate Medical Center, where he died.

Although the death appears to be an accident, police and the Hampden District Attorney's Office are investigating, officials said.



Police said Christopher was accompanied to the event by his father, Charles Bizilj, and his 11-year-old brother, Colin.

Charles Bizilj, the medical director of emergency medicine at Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford Springs, met with the crisis team at the Ashford School on Monday, where Christopher was enrolled in the third grade. School officials said the crisis team consists of two psychologists and the school nurse. The team was counseling students in both Christopher and Colin's classes on Monday.

The Sportsman's club said on its Web site that the event, run in conjunction with C.O.P Firearms and Training, is "all legal and fun." People will be allowed to fire weapons at vehicles, pumpkins and other targets, it said.

Officials with the private club and the firearms group could not be reached for comment. A message left on a club answering machine was not returned. The C.O.P. group's machine clicked off without taking a message. Numerous comments had been left in regards to the shooting in the online forum of the club's Web site on Monday. The Web site was taken down Monday afternoon.

It is legal in Massachusetts and Connecticut for children to fire a weapon if they have permission from a parent or legal guardian and are supervised by a properly certified and licensed instructor.