Jason Keiran Dead: Parents Say Their Son Accidentally Shot Himself After Drinking Four Loko

The parents of a Florida State University sophomore who accidentally shot and killed himself in September say Four Loko played a role in their son's death.

Joe and Vicki Keiran, the parents of 20-year-old Jason Keiran, are suing the makers of Four Loko, ABC News reports.

According to WESH, Keiran was handling a friend's gun thinking that its safety was on when he shot himself.

ABC reports that the incident occurred after 30 hours of partying. Jason's parents said that their son had ingested at least three cans of Four Loko, and that the drink caused him to become "manic and erratic."

Phusion Products, which manufactures the drink, has not commented on the lawsuit, though the company has said it will remove caffeine from Four Loko in the face of an FDA ban. Four states have already outlawed the drink.

WATCH: Wake Forest University professor Mary Clare O'Brien discusses the dangers of Four Loko:

Comments

[avo683]

04:16 PM on 11/29/2010

To add to my earlier post, I know I'm gonna get "Why don't you learn to dial 911" comments so here is an actual (condensed) example from my life.

Three years ago, my girlfriend and I were walking home. We were attacked by three African American guys who should have been in bed on a school night! I physically defended us from the attack although I sprained my ankle. I yell for my girlfriend to run, yelled at bad guys to stay away because I have a knife, and unfold pocket knife while running on sprained ankle. Another attacker charged and knowing I couldn't outrun, braced and stabbed him mid-chest. Ran off with sprained ankle floping around, noticed other attackers stopped to check on wounded friend. Catch up to girlfriend and dial 911 on the run since she couldn't hit the keys on her phone (normal body alarm reaction). The rest is history. Police got all three at hospital. Knife wound guy squeaked by which was a relief.

I had left my gun at home because we were going drinking and I'm responsible! Gun would have been a great force equalizer, especially if bad guys were armed. We got lucky!

I guess you sheltered cowards with the "dial 911" philosophy would have stood by while getting beaten and their girlfriend raped. Not for me!

[Andra Claudia Garcia]

05:36 PM on 11/25/2010

I'm sure that another reason why 4Loko is being banned has nothing to do with the lobbyists. Since pretty much they guarantee drunkness in two cans which costs 6 bucks instead of the 20 dollar bottle of vodka. Plain and simple you have more fun with 4LOKO...

[Angelus2007]

01:40 AM on 11/19/2010

Why not sue the person that bought the four loko and gave it to him? He is 20, someone had to give the liquor to someone underage. Or sue whoever gave him the gun.

[xanxia]

11:24 PM on 11/18/2010

Suing Four Loko? The parents only have themselves to blame for this disaster

[Tim Coleman]

06:18 PM on 11/18/2010

Four Loko is the new boogieman, all these deaths are being blamed on it, even when clearly this guy was an idiot. There no debating this, if you are drinking anything for 30 hours and you have a gun it will go off. Thankfully he didnt mow down anyone else. This is like all those dudes a few years back blaming every thing on video games, and people saying how video games caused more violence then every before. As far as I know there have been far less genocides after COD 4 came out, Im just saying.

[thereisonlyoneparty]

01:51 AM on 11/19/2010

And before than blaming it on Marilyn Manson and before that Judas Priest (at least I think they blamed it on Judas Priest--that was way before my time).

[J-Hoopster]

04:17 PM on 11/18/2010

Sorry to seem insensitive because its always sad when someone dies no matter what the circumstances...but its hard to have sympathy when better adult decision making on the victims part would have prevented this. 1 can of 4 loko will get anyone buzzing no matter how much of a heavyweight you are, 2 and you're knocking on the doors of drunkenness, 3 and you're entering the stages of possible alcohol poisoning/fatality. Not to mention 30 hours of non-stop partying...and having a gun. Im willign to assume if this happened to somebody else and they banned the 4 loko...the typical Jason Keiran would probably just move on to the next best thing....the bottom line is people are gonna do what they wanna do no matter what kind of prohibitions and limitations you try to impose. Dont ban the 4 loko..

[J-Hoopster]

04:08 PM on 11/18/2010

sorry to the parents of jason keiran...but jason keiran himself is the one to blame here. Trying to ban 4 loko wont serve justice at all unless you ban alcohol altogether. Since we know thats not gonna happen lets throw in a few analogies similar to this. If im running down the stairs as FAST as i can and just so happen to stumble and fall and bust my skull wide open...is it the stairs fault? if not surely the people who made the stairset are to blame then right? If i drive my honda civic 110 mph on the freeway and crash, is it honda faults that they didnt install brakes that would slow the car down fast enough for me to prevent crashing in case i decided to be a jack ass and go 40 miles over the speed limit? Pair that into the fact that you also have a case where he was underage and shouldnt have had it in the first place and he had a GUN..seriously? I can only imagine how devastated they are by their sons tragedy but lets be real, trying to blame the 4 loko for all this is ignorant and in a way laughable. This should be a lesson that people should do things at their own risk and have to take responsibility for their own actions when its said and done

[James O]

01:54 PM on 11/18/2010

4 Loko shouldn't be responsible for Darwinism

[FidoraMan]

01:00 PM on 11/18/2010

I go to FSU, and I know that we have a huge drinking problem here (thought that's given in any university). I'm not surprised at all, to be honest. It's still so sad though.

[jwadvocate83]

12:04 PM on 11/18/2010

1. Drinking underage is illegal. If my son drives a car without a license, crashes, and gets injured or dies, I'm not suing Honda.

Likewise, if my son drinks underage and injures or kills himself, as much of a tragedy as that is, no fault should be placed on the brewing manufacturer (unless, for instance, it was unclear from the packaging that it contained alcohol. In this case, it's hard for me to believe he didn't know.)

2. Handling a gun inebriated is certainly an awful idea nonetheless. What business would he have, handling a gun while drunk? It's an inherently dangerous thing to do. When a young person dies while driving drunk, again, we don't blame the car manufacturer, nor do we blame Miller Brewing Company.

3. How is drinking three cans of Four Loko any more dangerous than binge drinking with any other alcohol? If he drank several rum and cokes, screwdrivers, or any other mixed drinks? Four Loko is dangerous. So is every other type of alcohol. If you drink too much, you may do something dangerous. That's why you do it in moderation. You don't do it during "30 hours of partying." Oh, and...

4. 30 hours of partying? So he didn't sleep? But consumed the equivalent of a 12-18 pack of beers. Again, bad decision making is to blame, not the manufacturer.

Wanna go after someone? Go after the person who gave Four Loko to your son while underaged!

[Ayla87]

10:19 AM on 11/18/2010

Sorry parents but alcohol has been cleansing the gene pool for thousands of years. It's not Four Loko's fault your son was stupid.

[rikilii]

10:15 AM on 11/18/2010

Let this also be a lesson to those of us who enjoy fine dining.  If you've already had 2 or 3 glasses of wine with dinner, and perhaps a cocktail beforehand, you damn well better not have a cup or two of coffee with desert.  There's no telling who you might kill with your fish knife.

[kb7834]

10:21 PM on 11/17/2010

"ABC reports that the incident occurred after 30 hours of partying. Jason's parents said that their son had ingested at least three cans of Four Loko, and that the drink caused him to become "manic and erratic."

Im pretty sure he was acting manic and erratic because of the alcohol, and more importantly 30 hours of drinking it, rather than because of the 3 Four Lokos he drank.

[Angelus2007]

07:19 PM on 11/17/2010

This lawsuit should be thrown out on the basis that he wasn't even leagal to drink it. How can you blame a product he shouldn't even be consuming?

[smittlib77]

12:11 PM on 11/18/2010

regardless of his age and whether it was legal or not to drink it, it's the fact that he used their product which is why they're in trouble.

[Rooster Coburn]

07:17 PM on 11/17/2010

Just Google "how to make your own four loko"
(For educational purposes only, of course.)