"Please do not take these unnecessary risks."
A woman has been killed at a gender reveal party after a homemade reveal device exploded like a pipe bomb.
Pamela Kreimeyer died instantly when a piece of shrapnel that exploded from the device struck her in the head while at the party in Des Moines, Iowa on Saturday.
The device had been built by the family with the intention of sending either pink or blue gunpowder into the air, indicating that the unborn baby was a boy or a girl.
However, it exploded like a pipe bomb instead, killing a 56-year-old grandmother, Kreimeyer
CNN reports that the party's hosts had gotten together the day before to discuss the reveal device.
"This family got together for what they thought was going to be a happy event with no intent for anyone to get hurt," said local Sheriff Jason Sandholdt.
"On Saturday afternoon five family members and the expectant mother gathered and placed gunpowder in the bottom of a homemade stand that was welded to a metal base plate."
The family then placed a piece of tape over the top of metal tubing attached to the metal base plate and lit the fuse, creating a pipe bomb.
The metal tubing exploded, sending a piece of shrapnel flying through the air and hitting Kreimeyer in the head. It continued to travel over 400 feet in the air and land in a nearby field.
Kreimeyer was 14 metres away from the bomb when it exploded.
"This is a reminder that anytime someone mixes these things there is a high potential for serious injury or death; please do not take these unnecessary risks," said Sheriff Sandholdt.
It is not yet known what Kreimeyer's relationship to the mother of the unborn child was.
The baby's gender has also yet to be confirmed.
