Reading the Facebook tributes to 21-year-old Kavon Cooper of Church Road (VA) is an exercise in heartbreak. The slight young man was clearly popular among friends and family members, who all seemed stunned that Cooper died in a such a spectacularly stupid manner.

The State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s Richmond Field Office is investigating a shooting that left a man dead after he accidentally shot himself in the head early Sunday morning.

Investigators said 21-year-old Kavon Cooper of Church Road was riding in a vehicle traveling south on I-85 around 2:45 a.m. with two other adult males.

According to one of the individuals in the vehicle, Cooper had a revolver and was waving it around when a shot rang out.

The driver of the vehicle immediately took the Boydton Plank Road exit, pulled into a McDonald’s parking lot and summoned help.

Cooper died at the scene. Neither the driver nor the other passenger were injured.

Cooper’s accidental suicide by pulling the trigger and negligently discharging a gun into his own head is a sad reminder that not everyone is exposed to basic gun safety rules growing up, nor is everyone equally provided with common sense at birth.

Considering the time of morning—2:45 AM—I wouldn’t be surprised at all to discover that the trio of young men were returning home from a party or bar. Cooper’s toxicology report may well give us some small insight into why he was handling the revolver in such a reckless and ultimately fatal manner.

Firearms are not toys. You should not handle them recklessly, nor while distracted, nor while under the influence as it appears that Cooper might have done.

Cooper’s family is now grieving his utterly pointless loss.

Please be smarter than this, and ensure that your family members are educated on how and when to handle firearms safely.