Birthdays are often a highlight of the year—a day reserved for joy, laughter, and celebration with those closest to us. Whether it’s a themed party for a child that’s filled with colorful balloons, decorations, and games or a simple adult gathering of friends and family, birthday parties are a way to create special memories, celebrate life, and bring people together. Blowing out candles, opening presents, and being surrounded by loved ones not only adds to the magic of the occasion but also reminds us that sometimes, it’s the simple joy of being celebrated that makes all the difference.

While most parties end in smiles, piles of wrapping paper, and cake crumbs left behind, unfortunately, sometimes even the best-laid plans can go awry. However, rather than a minor hiccup, cake mishap, or forgotten present, these celebrations went from joyous to jaw-dropping in an instant. They turned what should have been a festive event into something much more unforgettable.

In this list, we’ll explore ten stories of birthday parties that took an absolutely bizarre walk on the wild side, where celebrations were overshadowed by chaos, wild animal encounters, freak accidents, and, in some cases, outrageous human behavior. These stories prove that even the most carefully planned parties can take a surprising and untamed twist.

Related: 10 Milestone Moments That Turned into Tragedy

10 Birthday Bash Turns into Gator Dash

On August 14, 2021, Donnie Wiseman, his wife Theresa, and his six-year-old stepson attended a five-year-old’s birthday party at Scales and Tails in West Valley, Utah. Wiseman initially contemplated not attending the party, given that working long hours at his construction job had left him feeling worn out. However, as “a reptile enthusiast,” Wiseman decided to go at the last minute and was especially looking forward to seeing the petting zoo’s 11-year-old, 8.5-foot long (2.5 meters), 150-pound (68 kg) alligator named “Darth Gator.” Little did Wiseman know just how close he would be to the reptile or that he would become part of the show.

As the gator’s handler, Lindsay Bull, opened the door to feed the gator, he “got a little extra spunky.” When Darth Gator then tried to climb onto the platform in his enclosure, Bull gave the reptile a command to back up. However, the alligator did not obey and, instead, latched onto Bull’s hand.

Realizing that the alligator was about to do the infamous “death roll”—a maneuver where alligators spin rapidly to subdue their prey—Bull allowed herself to be pulled into the pool in an attempt to avoid any further injury or losing her arm. Within seconds, Wiseman began shouting for help, but when no one came, he decided to take matters into his own hands.

Wiseman leaped into the enclosure, wrestled the alligator with his bare hands, and jumped onto the gator’s back, pinning him down. As Wiseman used all of his 180-pound (81 kg) body weight to press down on the alligator, Bull instructed Wiseman to push his fists into the top of Darth Gator’s snout. Doing this shifted the power dynamic, taking the alligator from a position as a predator to that of prey. The pair made small talk and remained calm. After close to a minute, the alligator finally let go of Bull’s hand.

From there, another guest, Todd Christopher, was able to grab Bull under her arms and pull her out of the enclosure, but Wiseman was still inside, straddling the gator. However, thanks to Bull’s instruction, Wiseman was then able to climb off the alligator’s back and get away safely. Christopher’s wife, Amy, who has a nursing background, was able to treat Bull’s wounds until first responders arrived.

Bull was taken to a local hospital with injuries to her hand that required surgery. Despite the terrifying encounter, which was all captured on video by Wiseman’s wife, Bull was expected to make a full recovery, and she said she “can’t wait to get back to work.”^[1]

9 Party Pooper… Literally!

A 16th birthday is often seen as a milestone and, as such, celebrated with grandeur. However, whether it’s a “sweet sixteen” filled with fancy dresses and an elaborate cake or a more laid-back gathering of close friends, turning sixteen marks a coming-of-age moment—one that represents freedom, new beginnings, and the much-anticipated driver’s license. It’s also a day many teenagers dream about as the celebration allows them to be the center of attention and make memories that will last a lifetime.

However, for one unlucky birthday girl, the memories of her 16th birthday came in a form that no one could have predicted or wanted.

On May 17, 2015, Jacinda Cambray was enjoying her “sweet sixteen” party with around 40 guests at her home in Levittown, Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, what started as a perfectly planned backyard pool party quickly descended into chaos when “something brown started falling from the sky.” Rather than confetti raining down on the celebration, it was something much, much worse—feces! Yes, you read that right, feces!

Thankfully, the guests had finished with the cake, and it had been taken back inside before the unsanitary surprise. A specially erected canopy took most of the impact, sparing most of the partygoers from being blasted with human excrement. It was then that a relative, Kristie Rogy, used a smartphone app to discover that five planes were flying overhead at the time of the incident.

The family went on to file a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA stated that the incident was being investigated as all planes are legally required to dispose of waste at the airport.

Unfortunately for Cambray, this birthday party will surely be memorable for all the wrong reasons, and she will certainly never forget the day an airplane took her party to a whole new level of crappy.^[2]

8 Bear Crashes Birthday Picnic and Enjoys Mexican Feast

On September 25, 2023, Silvia Macías of Mexico City, her son Santiago, and family friends Nathalia Fuentes and Angela Chapa visited the Chinique Ecological Park in San Pedro Garza García to celebrate Santiago’s 15th birthday. However, shortly after the group sat down to eat, a black bear decided to join the party and jumped onto their picnic table, devouring the tacos, enchiladas, french fries, and salsa meant for Santiago’s birthday dinner.

While they certainly never expected the four-legged intruder to crash their party, thankfully, Macías and Chapa had previously devised a plan should they come across a bear, given that Santiago, who has Down syndrome, is “very afraid of animals.” The plan was to “play a game” in which they would cover Santiago’s eyes and act like statues, and that’s exactly what they did.

Sitting just inches away from the bear’s mouth, Macías covered Santiago’s eyes, held him close to her chest, and remained stoic, keeping her eyes downward to avoid anything the bear might consider a challenge.

It was then that Chapa, who was recording the terrifying encounter, noticed a plate of enchiladas that the bear had not eaten. Chapa was able to get the bear’s attention by showing it the food and then tossing the container far away from the table. Just as Chapa expected, the bear followed the food, and she was able to stand in front of it, giving Macías and Santiago an opportunity to slowly back away.

The bear eventually went on its merry way. Still, the family did not let the scary encounter ruin or end their celebration. Santiago got his birthday tacos replaced, and everything ended well.^[3]

7 Cake and Chaos: Four-Year-Old’s Party Ruined in Police Fiasco

Stephanie Bures and her family were celebrating her four-year-old son T.J.’s birthday in their basement apartment in Chicago, Illinois, on February 10, 2019. However, as the children played a game of “Duck, Duck, Goose,” chaos descended on the party.

It was then that approximately 17 Chicago police officers, all dressed in plain clothes, entered the apartment with their weapons drawn and shouted, “Get your (expletive) hands up! We are doing an (expletive) raid.” Naturally in shock at the situation, an adult relative, Kiqiana Jackson, proceeded to ask the group who they were and why they were there and also requested to see a search warrant. Despite the fact that no one disobeyed orders, Jackson and several other adults were handcuffed in front of the children and taken outside into the cold.

To make matters worse, the family stated that the officers ransacked the home and took a door off its hinges, pried open wall panels, flipped mattresses, threw a big-screen TV to the floor, poured vodka over clothes, poured peroxide on T.J.’s presents, and smashed his cake. They also stated that the police officers “screamed profanity and insults,” “unlawfully questioned” T.J. and his seven-year-old sister Samari, and “joked and laughed throughout the raid.” However, no arrests were made.

So, what exactly was the reason for such a barbaric raid? Unfortunately, the family didn’t discover the reason or the huge mistake that was made until just before the officers left, when they placed a copy of the search warrant on the dining room table. The warrant was for a 46-year-old man who was allegedly dealing ecstasy. Not only did the family have no connection to the suspect, but the man in question had not lived in the apartment building for more than 5 years!

The family went on to file a federal lawsuit against the Chicago Police Department and the officers involved. On September 3, 2020, the Chicago City Council’s Finance Committee agreed to a $350,000 settlement in the case.^[4]

6 Birthday Dinner Ends in Flames

Samantha Myers of Greene County, Arkansas, said that her 26th birthday began on a positive note—her husband and children woke her up with a “happy birthday” greeting, the family went to church, and they later surprised her with a card and some candy. However, Myers’s husband, children, and in-laws had one more surprise for the birthday girl—a family dinner at Kimono Japanese Steakhouse in Paragould, Arkansas.

Unfortunately, the surprise birthday dinner on February 9, 2020, came to a fiery finish and ended with a trip to the hospital.

Once at the restaurant, the family sat around a Hibachi grill and enjoyed the experience of watching the chef prepare their meal. Sadly, the celebration then took a tragic turn. Myers stated that after the chef finished cooking their food, he made a heart shape on the grill and lit it on fire. The chef then went to draw a second heart—while the first heart was still on fire—but it was then that a “fireball burst off the grill” and “exploded,” setting both Myers and the chef on fire.

In a panic and screaming in pain, Myers ran to the bathroom to get water and put out the fire. Myers’s mother-in-law ran after her in an attempt to help and also repeatedly asked one of the employees if they had any burn cream. However, Myers claimed that the restaurant did nothing to help at the time, so the two women left the restaurant to go to the hospital. Myers, however, insisted that the rest of the family stay behind and finish their meal.

Myers sustained first- and second-degree burns to her face, neck, and chest, an infection in both eyes, and singed eyebrows and eyelashes. The details of the chef’s injuries were unknown.

While they were not charged for the meal and the restaurant offered to pay her medical bills, Myers stated that she intended to sue Kimono.^[5]

5 Elderly Woman’s Birthday Dinner Party Interrupted by Masked Intruders

Wendy Melvin was hosting a small dinner party at her home in Squamish, British Columbia, to celebrate her mother’s 77th birthday on December 17, 2022. However, just as the partygoers were finishing the cake, two uninvited, masked guests decided to crash the party—raccoons.

Despite the unexpected intrusion, thankfully, the two raccoons were quite polite and caused no trouble. Melvin stated, “They tried out every chair, posed for many photos, and then curled up in two furry balls and fell asleep.”^[6]

4 Birthday Celebration Turns Brutal with a Nose-Biting Twist

On April 5, 2019, Shane Groves went to the Progressive Club—a private members’ club—in Alexandra Terrace, Sutton-in-Ashfield, to celebrate his birthday. However, during the party, Groves began verbally abusing his brother’s friend, hurling homophobic comments.

When Groves’s brother stepped in and tried to intervene between the men, Groves responded by throwing a chair at his brother’s friend. Unfortunately, the dispute didn’t end there. Groves later tried to headbutt his brother, but instead, “clamped” his teeth onto his brother’s nose, and the pair ended up grappling. Several people attempted to separate the siblings, but when they were pulled apart, the tip of Groves’s brother’s nose was severed, causing the appendage to “end up on the club floor.”

Groves’s brother was taken to Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham, where his nose was sewn back on, but unfortunately, it did not take. Additionally, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Groves’s brother was forced to wait for the first of three reconstructive operations to try and repair the damage.

Groves pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm, and on November 5, 2020, he was sentenced to 25 months in prison.^[7]

3 Family Birthday Party Ends in Heartbreak After Freak Accident

A family birthday party is usually a time for joy, laughter, and celebration- a chance for loved ones to come together and create cherished memories. For one family, however, a freak accident replaced the joy of celebration with shock and sorrow as they found themselves mourning the loss of a beloved child in a tragedy that no one could have foreseen.

On July 11, 2021, two-year-old Delilah Hunt was sitting on a four-wheeler, surrounded by her family, at a birthday party in Gordonville, Texas, when the unthinkable happened. Family members were in the process of moving a truck—only a few feet away from where Hunt was—but when they started the vehicle, the truck’s AC compressor plate popped off, striking the toddler in the head.

Hunt was flown to Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, in critical condition. Sadly, Hunt, who was described as “the smartest and the spunkiest little two-year-old who just loved the world,” was later taken off life support and pronounced dead on July 14, 2021.^[8]

2 Tragedy at the Adventure Center

The Kong Adventure Centre in Keswick, England, features a state-of-the-art climbing wall, bouldering room, artificial caving system, a children’s hard play area, as well as a cafe ́ and a shop that sells specialty clothing and equipment for outdoor climbing. While this seems like a perfect place for the whole family, what began as a playful adventure at the facility took a devastating turn.

On April 22, 2023, 49-year-old Carl O’Keeffe went to Kong Adventure Centre to attend a celebration for his niece’s birthday. During their time there, O’Keeffe and four children went on an indoor caving experience. Unfortunately, at some point after entering the indoor cave, O’Keeffe attempted to turn around in the narrow tunnel but wound up getting stuck inside the center’s 229-foot (70-meter) long caving network.

The staff at Kong Adventure Centre was unfortunately not able to rescue O’Keeffe, so emergency services were called. Six crews from Cumbria Fire and Rescue, police, Keswick Mountain Rescue, Cumbria Ore Mines Rescue Unit, Great North Air Ambulance, and the Northwest Ambulance Service’s Hazardous Area Response Team worked with staff and visiting climbers. After over four hours, O’Keeffe was finally freed. O’Keeffe was then rushed to the Cumberland Infirmary’s intensive care unit in Carlisle with “crush injuries.”

Sadly, on April 30, 2023, O’Keeffe passed away. O’Keeffe’s older sister, Olivia Short, stated his death was the result of multiple organ failure.^[9]

1 Drunk Driver Crashes Into Party and Kills 2, Injures 15 Guests

On April 20, 2024, a child’s birthday party was being held at the Swan Boat Club in Berlin Charter Township, Michigan. However, as guests were sitting, eating, and enjoying the festivities, a car plunged 25 feet (7.6 meters) into the building, killing four-year-old Zayn Phillips and his sister, eight-year-old Alanah Phillips, and injuring 15 others.

The driver, 66-year-old Marshella Marie Chidester, was taken to the Monroe County Jail and charged with two counts of second-degree homicide, two counts of operating while intoxicated causing death, and four counts of operating while intoxicated causing serious injury.

Chidester, who was supposed to be meeting her husband at the birthday party at the boat club, claimed that all of a sudden, she “blacked out” and had no recollection of entering the parking lot of the boat club or anything leading up to the crash. Chidester has a history of epileptic-type seizures in her legs that result in paralysis, leading her attorney to believe she had a seizure behind the wheel.

Monroe County Prosecutor Jeffrey Yorkey, however, claimed that there was no evidence that Chidester had a seizure on the day of the crash, stating that a breath test indicated “she was significantly over the legal limit of 0.08.” Yorkie also stated that Chidester was not supposed to be drinking with the medication she was taking for her seizures, but Chidester admitted to drinking that day.

Attorneys representing the victims have also filed a lawsuit against the boat club, alleging that the building hosting the party on the end of a dirt road wasn’t designed to protect the people inside. (Link 51) They are also suing Verna’s Tavern, the bar that Chidester allegedly visited before the crash.^[10]

Few moments are as filled with joyful anticipation as a child counting down the days to his or her next birthday. Each night that gets the youngsters closer to their big day is a night that they go to sleep with big smiles on their faces.

Of course, it’s not just looking forward to one number giving way to another and the acknowledgement of growth and change that excites the child. It’s the gathering of friends, the fun to be had, the cake, and, yes, all the presents the child is going to get. In other words, it’s the birthday party that really gets a kid jumping for joy.

Most children’s birthday parties are fun-filled occasions. However, a few begin with fun and end with police sirens and tears on the faces of all those who attended. Here are just a few examples of those awful times when an adult didn’t get the memo about the fun and brought a gun to a child’s birthday party instead.

8 Times People Used Guns To Complain About Service

10 Chuck E. Cheese Birthday Party Shoot-out

In May 1977, the cofounder of video game company Atari opened up a restaurant/entertainment complex that would become a meeting place for giddy children for decades to come. That place, originally called “Pizza Time Theatre,” was Nolan Bushnell’s attempt to create a family-friendly video arcade at a time when they were associated with teenagers looking for trouble.

In the beginning, the entertainment was provided by a group of robotic characters. Their leader was a huge cigar-smoking rat with buck teeth and a distinct Jersey accent. His name was Chuck E. Cheese. In the 1990s, the chain officially became known as Chuck E. Cheese.

Today, the go-to location for children’s birthday parties boasts over 500 locations worldwide. In 2014, the chain’s parent company was purchased for $1.3 billion. However, all this success and birthday cake occasionally has to deal with forces beyond its control.

In late 2019, one of those forces was the temper of Marc Mathurin. His ex-girlfriend Aliyah Thomas and her two-year-old son were at Chuck E. Cheese for a children’s birthday party. They were dropped off by Thomas’s new boyfriend, David Brooks.

Not invited to the party, Brooks waited in his car in the parking lot. Ten minutes later, Mathurin exited Chuck E. Cheese and went straight for Brooks’s car. According to Brooks, Mathurin then fired a shot at Brooks. “He put the gun to my head. The barrel touched me,” said Brooks. Somehow, he escaped without injury.

After the shot was fired, the joyous occasion turned to panic and chaos. Thomas was still safe inside with her son, though not insulated from the chaos. She said, “People came running in and screaming. There was so much commotion.”

Brooks dialed 911, and the parking lot was soon filled with cops. Though Mathurin resisted arrest, police were able to subdue and put cuffs on him.

Understandably shaken by the incident, Thomas wondered if there was anything Chuck E. Cheese could do to better protect families in the future. She said, “I’m just left to wonder, what else can they do? A metal detector? More security? Did they even have a single person in charge of security?”^[1]

9 Dad Pulls Gun Out When Kids Get No Cake

Sometimes, you just plain miss out. Maybe it’s your fault, or maybe it’s someone else’s. But missing out on stuff is a part of life. The way we respond to it goes a long way toward defining who we are and how we’ll react the next time it happens.

For 48-year-old Joseph Hayes, it wasn’t so much what happened to him that triggered him so deeply, it was what his children were forced to endure in June 2011. They were attending another youngster’s birthday party when the host ran out of ice cream and cake before Hayes’s kids had any.

As this was simply unacceptable, Hayes flew into a rage. He yelled, “Y’all didn’t save my kids no damn ice cream and cake.” Then he left the party.^[2]

Soon, though, he returned with a small black handgun stuffed in the back of his pants. According to police, he approached the party host and said, “I ain’t scared to go to jail, just take care of my kids.”

That’s when the host called the police. After his arrest, Hayes told the officers that he didn’t actually bring a gun to the birthday party. Instead, he insisted, he had brought an object that looked like a gun. Either way, Hayes’s bond was set at $30,000.

8 Dad Shoots Self Doing Gun Tricks At Daughter’s Birthday Party

According to parents.com, the first question parents should ask themselves when hiring an entertainer for their youngster’s birthday party is: What type of entertainer would suit my child best?

For one father from Humble, Texas, whose daughter was turning 16, the question was a little different: What type of entertainment would he provide? Unfortunately for him, the answer was gunslinging.

At some point during the festivities, the proud father pulled out his gun and began spinning it in his hand. Somehow, the gun went off and a bullet hit him in the stomach.^[3]

He was rushed to the hospital with a single gunshot wound to his abdomen. No word on the type of gun or whether it was legally purchased.

7 Racists Crash Eight-Year-Old’s Birthday Party

On June 17, 2015, a man named Dylann Roof shot and killed nine people attending a prayer meeting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. The roots of the church go all the way back to a group of free blacks and slaves in 1791. In April 1962, Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech at the church.

Needless to say, the country was devastated by this racist attack. Then, about a month later, a small group of racists in Douglasville, Georgia, thought it would be a great idea to crash a black girl’s eighth birthday party.

Apparently, Jose Ismael Torres and Kayla Rae Norton, both in their twenties, were among a group of 15 people driving around Paulding and Douglas counties in Georgia (west of Atlanta) with their vehicles all decked out with Confederate battle flags. Torres and the rest of the riders were members of a group called “Respect the Flag.” Judging by their subsequent actions, that is about all they respected.

The group was threatening African Americans and yelling racial slurs as they drove from one area of Georgia to the next. At some point during their racist tour, they came upon an outdoor birthday party for an eight-year-old black girl.

The person who prosecuted the group said, “Victims and witnesses from the party, who were predominantly African American, testified to observing the group of trucks whose passengers were hurling a litany of racial slurs at them as they passed by.”

Then things got even uglier when several in the group got out of their vehicles, approached the partygoers, and threatened to kill them all—including the eight-year-old black girl. At one point, Norton retrieved Torres’s shotgun, loaded it, and handed it to him.

At trial, Torres claimed that he had the shotgun for his own protection. Then he admitted that he had lied to police about the gun and sold it before he was arrested. Months after the incident, the group “Respect the Flag” was indicted as a street gang.

At the sentencing hearing, Hyesha Bryant, one of the partygoers, testified for the victims. She said, “I never thought this would be something I’d have to endure in 2017. As adults and parents, we have to instill in our children the values of right and wrong. That moment you had to choose to leave, you stayed.”^[4]

Torres was sentenced to serve 13 years in prison. Norton got six.

6 Clueless Cops Raid Child’s Birthday Party

In 2019, the police made a terrible mistake in Chicago. While executing a search warrant, officers from the Chicago Police Department burst in on a four-year-old child’s birthday party instead.

According to Stephanie Bures, the birthday boy’s mom, police officers knocked down the door to her basement apartment, pointed guns at her family, and tore up the place. Shaken, Bures said, “It’s terrifying. Can you imagine a four- or a seven-year-old sitting and playing games with other children, then come in and be confiscated by men with guns pointed at them? I can’t imagine that.”^[5]

Apparently, the police were looking for someone who had not lived in the building for a long while.

The family promptly filed a federal lawsuit. Their attorney, Al Hofeld Jr., painted a shocking picture of the awful incident when he said, “Instead of having his family sing happy birthday to him, four-year-old TJ had Chicago police officers curse and insult him and his family with f-words and cruel jokes.”

Chicago police released a statement saying that “[they make] every effort to ensure the validity and accuracy of all information that is used to apply for and execute search warrants, [but] errors occur and it does take them seriously.”

Reverend Michael Pfleger from a nearby church offered some advice to law enforcement: “Treat the children and the houses that you are going into the same way that you treat your house or your children or want them treated.”

Officers were not wearing body cameras during the botched raid.

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5 Gun-Toting Masked Man Swoops In On Birthday Party

A lot of things have changed during the coronavirus pandemic. For example, the way in which people celebrate birthdays. With friends and family unable to visit one another due to social distancing or stay-at-home guidelines, the “drive-by”—mostly associated with shootings—has recently taken on a much sunnier meaning.

In March 2020, a family in Oregon was holding a “drive-by” birthday party for a child. Friends and family were driving by the family’s house yelling “happy birthday” from their car windows and honking in celebration. Clearly, this did not sit well with the family’s neighbor.

Angry at what was taking place next door, 45-year-old Gabreial Russell slipped on a gas mask, grabbed his realistic-looking BB gun, and crashed his neighbor’s very responsible “drive-by” children’s birthday party. No shots were fired, but Russell did get off a few threatening statements.^[6]

Soon, the police were called, and they arrested Russell without incident.

Court records later showed that Russell was no stranger to law enforcement officials. In 2015, he was convicted of three counts of felon in possession of a firearm and sentenced to 13 months in prison.

4 Boing-Boing Birthday Shooting

According to Roller—a leading entertainment and leisure software provider—trampoline parks first emerged in the early to mid-2000s. Today, there are over 1,500 trampoline parks worldwide. Approximately 77 percent of attendees are under age 18.

In February 2020, a family was holding a children’s birthday party at an Atlanta trampoline park called “Get Air.” All was well until two family members got into a heated argument in the parking lot. The squabble entered the crazy zone when one man retrieved a gun from his car and started shooting. Not only was the other man in the argument shot but a bystander was also hit. Thankfully, none of the reported injuries were life-threatening.

Lieutenant Jake Smith of the Gwinnett County Police Department set the scene: “The argument kind of spilled outside between these two men, and one of the subjects went to his car and retrieved a gun. He ultimately shot at the second subject who was a family member of his.”

When the smoke cleared, 33-year-old Gregory Durell Angrum was arrested on two counts of aggravated assault.^[7]

3 Quinceanera Interrupted By Gunfire

When a girl reached age 15 in pre-Hispanic times, she was considered a woman who was ready to begin her childbearing years. In modern times, a quinceanera is more symbolic and usually involves a big party that can get expensive fast.

It is also supposed to mark the first time a young woman puts on makeup. Along with a cross, rosary and scepter, the lucky girl is gifted a tiara and shoes specifically chosen for her special day. What is not usually included in a quinceanera is gunfire.

Tell that to the folks who attended a quinceanera on August 31, 2019, at the Metroplex Event Center in Rogers, Arkansas.^[8]

According to the shooter, 27-year-old Salvador Aldaco Jorge, it was all kind of a casual, everyday thing. Jorge told police that he and a friend were hanging out behind the bar when he casually mentioned that he had an “open carry.” His friend then urged Jorge to shoot by saying, “Okay, go for it.”

After talking a little longer, Jorge took out his gun and fired two shots in the air. A security guard quickly ran over and took the firearm out of Jorge’s hand. Police estimated the damage at $1,500.

Jorge was charged with a slew of crimes, including aggravated assault, committing a terroristic act, discharging a firearm within city limits, and first-degree criminal mischief.

2 Dropped Gun Goes Off At One-Year-Old’s Birthday Party

In 2018, 73 children under age 12 were killed as a result of gun mishaps in the US. That figure includes the tragic story of a two-year-old from Maryland who found a gun on a bed while the adults in the house were asleep. The boy picked it up and fatally shot himself.

In December 2017, family and friends had gathered at the Dolaj Catering Hall in Brooklyn to celebrate a child’s first birthday. All was well until one man took off his coat.

A gun fell from his pocket, hit the floor, and discharged. The bullet pierced the right leg of a 62-year-old woman. The man quickly picked up his weapon and fled.^[9]

The female victim was rushed to the hospital where she was later announced to be in stable condition. Thankfully, the one-year-old was not hit. We were unable to confirm if the shooter was eventually apprehended by police.

1 Wanted Man In Park Was Heading Toward A Child’s Birthday Party

In Austin, Texas, in summer 2019, someone called 911 to report that a man in Pease Park was carrying an assault rifle and a large knife. The caller also said that this man was heading toward “a party with lots of kids.”

A second caller was able to give police the license plate number of the man’s car. Quickly, police identified him as 23-year-old Dalton Broesche. He had an outstanding arrest warrant in another county.

Police raced to the scene and managed to find Broesche between a trail in the park and a roadway. They detained him on the warrant and handcuffed him for safety reasons. The outstanding warrant was for assaulting his girlfriend and threatening a neighbor with a knife.^[10]

When police searched Broesche, they found several weapons, including a loaded 9mm handgun, an expandable metal baton, and two knives. The first 911 caller had mentioned that the assault rifle was an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, which police found on a footpath near a main trail inside Pease Park. The rifle was already loaded with a 30-round magazine.

Austin resident and sometime Pease Park visitor Marie Fahlgren shared her thoughts about the incident: “It’s terrifying. I have no idea what his intentions would be at a park in a safe place like this in the middle of downtown in the middle of the day with children. I have no idea.”

Broesche was charged with deadly conduct and tampering with physical evidence.

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About The Author: Domenico De Luca has been writing for 30 years—screenplays, short stories, and songs making up the vast majority of his output. Dom also writes, produces, and stars in his own homemade comedy series, Dom & Dommer. He’s also a film buff with his very own blog called so many films, so little time.