Wasn't there, got a call from a friend about it.
We're hunting safety instructors, we tell the students over and over, always point your gun in a safe direction.
Don't know if it's one of our former students yet, but its disheartening.
As far as I know it's the first gun accident at the club. Damn, just damn.

Here

Bezotte said four male friends were shooting guns at the Livingston Conservation & Sports Association’s range at 8532 McClements Road between Kellogg Road and Old U.S. 23 when one friend’s gun jammed.

“He tried to unjam the weapon when it discharged,” the sheriff explained. “It struck his friend in the head.”
The 20-year-old friend, whom Bezotte declined to identify, died at the scene. No other injuries were reported.

Update:
trespassed

Bezotte said his department’s investigation revealed that Kimball was shot about 12:45 p.m. with an AK-47 while his friend was applying lubricant after the assault rifle jammed while shooting it at the Livingston Conservation & Sports Association’s gun range at 8532 McClements Road between Kellogg Road and Old U.S. 23. He said Kimball was standing about 12 feet “down range” from his friend when the weapon discharged.

Kimball was instantly killed, the sheriff said. He did not identify the shooter.

“It had been malfunctioning and he had it serviced and received it back and was firing it at the range,” Bezotte explained. “He fired it successfully a few times but then it jammed.”

Bezotte said when the 19-year-old Howell-area man tried to fix the assault rifle, he accidentally engaged a bullet, which fired.

Kimball was one of four friends – three 19-year-old men and a 16-year-old girl – who went to the gun range after the shooter told his friends that he was a member of the club, Bezotte said.

“He is not a member,” the sheriff noted. “They did not have permission to be there.”

Sad.

Very sad indeed.  A young man lost his life needlessly.  Another young man is going to have to live with it the rest of his.  Muzzle Awareness everyone.

Four simple rules, and they couldn't be followed. Sad, indeed.

I wonder how things at the club are going to change because of this.........

Closed until further notice on the gate. Site says Tuesday.
I'll probably stop by to check after golf on Tuesday.
Haven't seen anything more on it in the local rag.
Some partial comments look like the anti's were all over it.

I've seen young people do some reckless things. For some reason it hasn't clicked in most their brains that they're not immortal. As a consequence, even though they know better sometimes they do really reckless things. It's horrible to see a youthful mistake come with such a heavy price.  Few years ago they had a young man at MSU slide down a bannister and fall, which paralyzed him.

As a parent or instructor you've really got to be a little bit of a prick when it comes to safety and young people.  You've got to hammer it into their heads and come down on them hard when you catch them making safety mistakes. My grandfather once caught my 410 shotgun with the safety off when I was 14 while we were walking in the woods and man did I get my @$$ chewed out for that one...never did it again though. I didn't fear death really, but boy did I fear my grandfather.

Terrible.

I don't think the person being young had anything to do with this incident. ANYONE can make the mistake of not pointing the muzzle downrange when not paying attention, even you. EVERYONE makes mistakes, and it's unfortunate that this mistake took a life.

And not paying attention where the muzzle is pointed is one of those things that should never happen regardless of who is behind the trigger.  If you aren't able to pay attention, find another hobby.  They are not called safety "guidelines" or "suggestions" for a reason.

Around a decade ago a club on the west side of Kalamazoo has a trespasser climb the fence and "hip shoot" some empty cans he threw on the ground. The rounds impacted a mile away in several trailers at a park. Club got closed down by the county board and had to improve security and berms before it was allowed to re-open. Fortunately nobody was injured.

This type of non-sense happens all the time. You can see youtube after youtube of people shooting without a firm backstop. They'll brush it off if challenged and say there are miles of empty acres behind where they shoot. I say, how do you know nobody's back there? After years of chiding a friend of mine he finally had a backhoe build a mound for his bullet impacts. Everyone needs to push safety, the future of the sport depends on it.

Accidental deaths have decreased substantially over the last few decades. Lets continue this trend.

Kids trespass. People act stupid and someone gets killed. Club gets shut down. As sad as it is for the kid and his friends I feel bad for the club. What could they have done to prevent this? Razor wire? Electric fence?

Yep. I had a douchebag shooting through the woods doing mag dumps with a 22 while I was bow hunting. I heard zinging going by my head (he was at the top of the ridge I was in a tree stand). When I confronted him he told me to F off and he was not shooting in my direction. I am Mr. gun rights but sometimes I wonder. The amount of stupidity these days is unbelievable.

Tragic loss of life for sure. Following basic rules could have prevented this.