The family of Arizona shooting instructor Charles Vacca is speaking up about the 9-year-old girl who accidentally shot and killed him. They feel sorry for her, the Associated Press reports, and hope she can learn to move on.

"That's truly how we feel," said Anamarie Vacca, ex-wife of Vacca. "I know we're going to let her know to not revolve her life around it." The 39-year-old instructor died Monday while training a 9-year-old girl how to shoot an Uzi at Bullets and Burgers, an outdoor shooting range outside of Las Vegas.

"We really do want the prayers to be going out to the family of the little girl," Vacca’s daughter, Ashley, 19, said on NBC's "Today" show. "Our thoughts and our prayers are with them. We don’t want their life to revolve around this."

The Mohave County (Arizona) Sheriff’s Department deemed the shooting an accident, after the recoil from the weapon sent bullets over the girl’s head, the Washington Post reported. Vacca was shot in the head and airlifted to a Las Vegas hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

The death has sparked further debate in the United States about training children to handle guns.

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