Man Accidentally Killed in Masonic Rite

I'm having a hard time believing that these guys rule the world in :

A Masonic initiation ritual ended in tragedy when a man was
shot in the head and killed with a gun thought to contain blanks,
police said on Tuesday. They said 47-year-old William James was
accidentally killed when Albert Eid, 76, confused a loaded .38-caliber
semiautomatic pistol with another gun during the induction ceremony in
Patchogue, on New York's Long Island, on Monday night. "During the
ceremony, an inductee was shot and killed when a lodge member used a
real gun instead of a blank pistol," Suffolk County Detective Lt. Jack
Fitzpatrick said in a statement. Police officer Heidi Cummings said Eid
pointed a gun at James' head while another member beat a garbage can
like a drum as shrouded secrecypart of the rite in the basement of the suburban Southside Masonic Lodge, about 50 miles east of Manhattan.

Posted by flow Frazao on March 10, 2004 at 11:15 AM | Permalink