Someone with a rifle among a group of people in a central Minnesota field shot a barrel covering a volatile explosive inside and sent shrapnel flying, with one piece striking a man a half a football field away, Benton County officials said Monday.
The incident occurred shortly after sunset Saturday roughly 7 miles east of Foley in the 8000 block of NE. 170th Avenue, the Sheriff's Office said.
The wounded man, 26-year-old Collin Louis Schumacher of nearby Oak Park was hit in the abdomen and taken by air ambulance to North Memorial Health Hospital in Robbinsdale with what officials on Monday termed a serious injury.
The barrel hit by gunfire was placed over "a large quantity" of Tannerite, a brand of explosive used for firearms practice, a Sheriff's Office statement read.
As the investigation continues into the specifics of the incident, no arrests or charges have been announced. The person who fired the shot has yet to be identified.
According to the Sheriff's Office:
At about 9:30 p.m., people at the scene called law enforcement after Schumacher was injured. He told first responders that he and others had gathered in the field for "recreational firearms use," the Sheriff's Office statement read.
Deputies learned that one of roughly 12 people in the crowd put a metal barrel atop the Tannerite, then one in the group watching from about 50 yards away "fired a rifle through the barrel and into the Tannerite, causing the Tannerite to explode," the statement continued. "The explosion inside of the barrel caused the barrel to rupture, sending pieces of shrapnel flying in several directions."
A piece of shrapnel struck Schumacher in the abdomen. No one else was hurt.
