News crews from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York capture live shots on the scene where a 61-year-old man died and 13 other people, including children, were injured after a lightning strike on Wednesday night at Black Knight Bowbenders archery range on Perrineville Road in Jackson, NJ Thursday, July 17, 2025. Photo credit Tanya Breen/Asbury Park Press / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
JACKSON, N.J. (AP) — A lightning strike at an archery range in New Jersey killed a man and injured 13 others Wednesday evening, according to police.
Around 7:15 p.m., police were notified that multiple people were struck by lightning at the Black Knight Bowbenders archery range and that CPR was being administered to one person, Jackson Township Police Chief Matthew Kunz said in a statement.
A 61-year-old man died of his injuries while another person was temporarily unconscious, the statement said. The others hurt had burns and nonspecific complaints about not feeling well. The youngest person hurt was 7.
Those injured were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment. Their conditions were not released.
"The earth exploded. Dirt went flying everywhere," Gene Grodzki, a volunteer and instructor at the range, told CBS News. "And when I turned around, there was at least seven people down on the ground, flat."
Scattered showers and storms had been forecast for Wednesday evening, with one severe thunderstorm warning issued in that area at the time, according to the National Weather Service.