SANTA ANA, Calif., Sept. 12 (UPI) -- Police said two people were injured by pellets from live shotgun shells used during a mock cannon battle in a California tall ship festival.
The Coast Guard and Orange County sheriff's investigators said the people, who were not serious hurt, had been attending the Dana Point Tall Ships Festival. Re-enactors aboard the Amazing Grace, a tall ship based in Washington state, mistakenly used cannon rounds that contained live shotgun pellets rather than blanks. The cannons firing on another ship, the Bill of Rights, struck two people aboard.
The Orange County (Calif.) Register said the ships were using small, toolbox-sized "shotgun" cannons during the historic re-enactment Saturday night.
Donna Reed, one of the two shipmates turned cannon fodder, was hit in the leg, but took the incident in stride.
"Who else can say they have been shot by a cannon?" she told the newspaper.