Lightning strike at New Jersey archery range kills one and injures 13
One person was killed and 13 others were injured when lightning struck an outdoor archery range in Jackson Township, New Jersey, on July 16, 2025, according to BNO News. Police said the strike hit just before 7:15 p.m. at a range on Perrineville Road.
The victim who died was a 61-year-old man who was receiving CPR when emergency responders arrived, the report says. The injured ranged in age from 7 to 61 and suffered injuries from burns to general complaints of not feeling well. All 13 injured people were taken to local hospitals.
The incident is a reminder that lightning can be dangerous even when people are not in the middle of a storm visually obvious to those nearby. Outdoor sports fields and ranges can become especially risky if weather shifts quickly, because participants are often spread out, standing on open ground and holding equipment that may not protect them from a strike.
The source says emergency medical services and fire crews from multiple local and surrounding agencies responded to the scene. That kind of multi-agency deployment suggests a sudden mass-casualty response even though the final death toll was one. In lightning events, initial triage matters a great deal because some victims may appear less serious at first but still need careful monitoring.
The report also points to broader lightning risk in the United States. It says lightning kills an average of about 20 people each year and injures hundreds more, and that 12 lightning-related deaths had already been reported in 2025 at the time of the article. That context helps explain why weather safety messaging remains important even in routine recreational settings.
This case stands out because the victims included a child as young as 7 alongside adults. The wide age range underscores how family-oriented outdoor activities can put many different people in the same exposure zone. The source does not say whether the archery range had weather warnings posted, whether participants were told to leave before the strike or whether anyone suffered long-term effects.
The supplied evidence is clear on the essentials: a lightning strike hit a New Jersey archery range, one person died, 13 others were hurt, and responders had to triage multiple victims on site before transporting them to hospitals. The event adds to a year in which lightning has already proved deadly across the United States.
