A former police chief has been found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the high-profile trial involving the death of a young boy who was firing an Uzi submachine gun.
The Massachusetts jury ruled that Edward Fleury was not guilty in the death of 8-year-old Christopher Bizilj, who attended the gun event with his father. The boy's accidental death was videotaped by his father, who had been watching his son as he was firing the Uzi.
The defense maintained that the tragedy was an accident and that the former police chief, whose company co-sponsored the event, was not responsible. The testimony showed that Fleury had not been involved in picking the weapon used by Bizilj and was not directly involved in supervising Bizilj.
Dr. Charles Bizilj, an emergency room doctor, kept his camera running during the incident, and the jury in Springfield watched the graphic videotape that he had recorded. During cross-examination on the witness stand, the doctor conceded that he could have prevented his son from shooting the weapon.