Woman hit by shrapnel still in critical condition

By Rolf Boone | The Olympian • Published July 07, 2008

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A woman in her 30s remains in critical condition at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia after she was injured by an exploding cannon on the Fourth of July, her husband said Sunday. – A woman in her 30s remains in critical condition at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia after she was injured by an exploding cannon on the Fourth of July, her husband said Sunday.

Jeremy Johnson said his wife, Emily, has serious abdomen and leg injuries after she was hit by shrapnel from a cannon that exploded Friday night near their house in the 9200 block of Applegate Loop S.W. in Rochester.

He added that his wife has been in a drug-induced coma since Friday and faces more surgery today.

The Johnsons were among about 30 people celebrating Independence Day when a cannon was fired resulting in injuries to Emily, an 11-year-old boy and a 34-year-old man, Jeremy Johnson said. The boy and man suffered severe lacerations to their legs and abdominal areas.

The boy was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle Friday night, and the man was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital. Johnson declined to disclose the boy's name and was unsure about the man's name. The status of their injuries was not known, he said.

Thurston County Sheriff's Sgt. Cheryl Stines said Sunday the accident is under investigation, but declined to release any more information.

Johnson also declined to disclose the name of the person who owns the cannon, which was fired near his house. He described him as a "guy he knows" and said the cannon was a "noisemaker," but was not intended to fire a projectile.

Johnson described the cannon as piece of metal with a barrel diameter about the size of a broom handle.

The explosion, however, was strong enough to send a piece of shrapnel through the wall of a neighbor's house, homeowner Chris Marlow said Sunday.

Marlow was celebrating July 4 with his family when he heard the explosion and later discovered a thick piece of shrapnel had burst through a wall in his bedroom and embedded itself in a closet door.

"We heard the 'boom', screams and that was pretty much it," he said.

Sheriff's investigators later recovered the shrapnel from his house and took pictures of the damage, Marlow said.

This is the second straight July 4 that a cannon has caused a family tragedy in the Rochester area.

Last year, another cannon exploded, killing 8-year-old Devan Vyborny. His grandfather said he had fired off the cannon many times without a problem. Metal fatigue might have been the cause.

Devan died of blood loss after shrapnel struck him in the chest, severing his aorta, Coroner Gary Warnock said. Devan was standing about 100 feet behind the metal cannon when it exploded. Pieces of the cannon landed more than 200 feet away, according to the sheriff's office.

Rolf Boone is a reporter for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5403 or rboone@theolympian.com.