A teenager has described how he fatally shot his friend after accidentally discharging an air rifle during a house party in Hampshire. Connor Bell, 17, was struck in the head by a pellet fired by Jack Beechy, who mistook the trigger for the safety catch, an inquest heard.
Fatal shot at Basingstoke party
Connor had been drinking with friends at Joshua Brown's home in the Basingstoke area on November 8, 2025, when the incident occurred. The pellet penetrated his skull through his right eye socket, causing an "unsurvivable" brain injury and cardiac arrest. He was taken to Southampton General Hospital, where he died two days later.
The Winchester inquest heard that Joshua Brown, now 18, had arranged with his parents to have a couple of friends over, with the air rifle, owned for three weeks, kept secured in a cupboard. However, more friends arrived than expected, and the group drank vodka, cider and beers instead of the box of 12 Peroni beers his father had bought.
"I shot Connor"
Mr Brown retrieved the .177 calibre air rifle, and it was used to shoot at targets in the garden from the conservatory. Later, Mr Beechy rushed in from the kitchen and said: "I shot Connor." Mr Beechy, also now 18, told the inquest he had been drinking and was a "little bit drunk". He said Mr Brown had asked him to return the rifle to its case, so he discharged the remaining pellets from the conservatory, believing it was safer and that he had "completely unloaded it".
As he entered the kitchen, he inadvertently fired the rifle, mistaking the trigger for the safety catch. He stated: "I tried to put the safety on but it was the wrong trigger. The safety is directly in front of the trigger." When emergency services arrived, Mr Beechy told police: "I shot my friend with an air rifle, it was an accident."
Accidental death verdict
A post-mortem by pathologist Dr Megan Jenkins found the cause of death to be a hypoxic brain injury caused by cardiac arrest from a gunshot wound to the head. Coroner Jason Pegg recorded a verdict of accidental death, citing inadequate weapons-handling skills as a contributing factor.
Mr Pegg noted that Joshua's father, Martin Brown, had assumed only a small gathering was planned and had instructed his son not to remove the rifle from the cupboard. The coroner said: "The reality was a little bit different, Joshua Brown, like many teenagers, decided to make it into more of a house party, his friends ended up bringing copious amounts of alcohol and within a short time of that party starting, Joshua and his friends were intoxicated with alcohol."
He added: "It's clear to me that he (Joshua) was shown how to use the rifle by his father. I am satisfied that Joshua told his friends how to use the weapon, how to load it, how to reload it and how to fire it and I am satisfied he told them how to use the safety catch." Mr Pegg described a "real risk and a degree of inevitably" of an accident among a group of young people drinking, calling Connor's death "devastating" and "a deeply tragic case".
Connor's father, Robert Bell, said his son was "dearly loved", adding: "He was cheeky and had a caring and soft side, never took himself too seriously and had a wicked sense of humour." He shared that Connor was a football enthusiast, a regular gym-goer and was training to become a personal trainer.
