Family sues over boy's death at gun show

updated 2:23 p.m. ET Nov. 10, 2009

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The family of an 8-year-old boy who fatally shot himself at a gun show in western Massachusetts says the Uzi submachine gun jammed twice before he lost control of the weapon and fired into his head.

In a $4 million wrongful death lawsuit filed Friday, the family of Christopher Bizilj of Ashford, Conn., said that a 15-year-old instructor who cleared the gun and handed it back to the victim failed to provide proper guidance.

The lawsuit names the owners of a gun club where the fair was held, promoters of the event and those who supplied the weapon and ammunition. None of those named in the lawsuit could be immediately reached for comment.

Bizilj shot himself at the Westfield Sportsman's Club in October 2008 at an event called the "New England Pumpkin Shoot."

The boy's family claims the gun was defective and unreasonably dangerous, and they blame the failure to properly service it.

Some of those named in the civil lawsuit also face criminal charges in Hampden Superior Court.

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