A 14-year-old has died after a shooting at a gun range in Deerfield Beach Thursday, authorities said. Police are investigating the shooting as an apparent suicide.
The incident happened around 1:15 p.m. at the Gun World of South Florida located on 1700 S. Powerline Road.
The teen suffered a possible self-inflicted wound and was airlifted to Broward Health North, where he later died, Broward Sheriff's Office said.
Family members told NBC 6 that the teen, who they identified as Vincent Colonna, had gone to the range with his father.
"I can't believe this could happen, how could this happen?" grandmother Henrietta Colonna said.
Another grandmother, Ana Rosen, said she spoke with the boy's father, who said one moment, everything seemed fine and the next, the teen was on the ground.
"He said he was doing this thing, shooting his weapon as he normally did then he said he looked up and he was on the ground," Rosen said.
Rosen said the family is devastated.
"He loved to play chess, we used to travel all over the place him and I. It's a great loss to his family," she said.
She added that the teen was excited about a family cruise in November and family movie night planned Friday. She calls the apparent suicide as a "real shock."
The gun range's rules on minors is common to Florida's law, according to the Gun World of South Florida website. It requires anyone under the age of 18 to be accompanied by a parent on and off the range at all times while at the range. Also, patrons must be 13 years or older to shoot.
