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Who is Christopher Pekny? NY dad-to-be killed in gender-reveal device explosion a day before his birthday

The explosion took place in the 28-year-old's garage and also injured his younger brother Michael Pekny

LIBERTY, NEW YORK – Christopher Pekny, a 28-year-old father-to-be, died after a device he was building for his child’s gender-reveal party exploded in his garage. In a released statement, New York Police authorities said that the gender-reveal device that Pekny was building exploded and killed him. The explosion also injured his younger brother, Michael Pekny. The officials further revealed that Michael was transported to Garnet Medical Center in Middletown, New York.

New York State Police and the bomb disposal unit are currently investigating the incident. The police authorities did not specify what kind of device Pekny was building for the gender-reveal party but revealed via a statement to BuzzFeed News that no charges have been filed following the traffic incident.

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Who was Christopher Pekny?

Christopher Pekny’s older brother, Peter, revealed that his brother was “very mechanically inclined” and could fix and do anything. As per Peter, Christopher, who would have turned 29 on February 23, 2021, was a gifted mechanic. He even stated that his brother earned the nickname Frankenstein at his job at Liberty Concrete, where he worked as a mason. "What he picked up and moved around would have taken three people,” Peter said to New York Times. “I’ve seen him pick up engine blocks because they were in the way.”

Peter further alleged that his younger brother was looking forward to starting a family with his girlfriend, who learned just before Christmas that she was pregnant.

With the rise of social media, several couples have opted for elaborate stunts to reveal the gender of their unborn baby. Such stunts sometimes include incendiary devices or smoke bombs. Trooper Steven Nevel told NBC News that the prop Pekny was developing was not going to be the final product for the gender reveal party. “It wasn’t meant to harm anyone,” Nevel said. “It was just an innocent prop for a gender reveal that went horribly wrong.” Nevel added that the police authorities have seen such incidents happening everywhere and can only say that the would-be parents shouldn’t do it.

"Gender reveal parties are so dumb!"

With the announcement of Christopher’s death, social media pages have been flooded with tributes and kind words from family, friends, and loved ones. The Pekny family owns the Robin Hood Diner, a mainstay in Livingston Manor. A Facebook post on the diner’s page said: “We appreciate the overwhelming display of love and support that you all have shown. The Robin Hood will be closed for the immediate future.”

Even several social media users took to Twitter to share their heartfelt condolence. One user responded by saying, "I’m stuck between feeling genuine sorrow over the loss of a father-to-be and hating how stupid it was to build an explosive device to reveal your child’s gender." Another tweeted, "Gender reveal parties are so dumb! There are only TWO possibilities. It would've made sense to have a party if there were options like "Unicorn", "Space Umbrella", "Cheese Wheel"...idk" Another user tweeted, "I feel like these ‘parties’ don’t so much reveal the gender of the baby, but more so reveal the kind of people the parents are." A fourth user tweeted: "Whatever happened to a surprise cake or whatever? People always have to top one another and become another victim of Darwinism!"

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