California Teen Killed During Russian Roulette Game

A 17-year-old teen near Carson, California, is dead after playing Russian Roulette earlier today. Authorities stated that the teen shot and killed himself during the game he played with other teens in his apartment, according to the Associated Press. The boy’s name has not yet been released.

The shooting occurred after midnight on the morning of January 16. Family members in the apartment told authorities that they did not realize he had a gun. The boy was living with his older brother and the brother’s wife, as stated in the New York Post.

According to the sheriff’s investigators, the unnamed teen had initiated the game after producing a.38-caliber revolver, despite the pleading of two others in the bedroom not to, Scott Hoglund, of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said, according to NBC Channel 4, Southern California. Hoglund stated the following.

“The victim did not listen and proceeded to put the gun to his head and pull the trigger.”

Several neighbors said they heard what sounded like screaming for about one minute and a single gunshot. The screaming may have been the others pleading with the teen not to shoot himself. Russian Roulette involves loading a single chamber of a revolver, spinning the cylinder and squeezing the trigger after putting the gun to one’s head.

According to NBC Channel 4, Southern California, security guard Donald Gordon said he found the victim bleeding on the floor after responding to the disturbance reports and calling 911. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Deputies responded to the building in the 900 block of West Carson Street at about 4 a.m. after a report of gunfire. The victim was transported to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Gordon indicated the following.

“He was on the ground, gasping for air, saying he really needs some help.”

Family members and friends were in the apartment at the time, but family members declined to speak on camera. Others who were inside the apartment are being questioned, authorities said.

“Additional information about the weapon is still under investigation,” the Sheriff’s Department said in a statement cited by NBC Channel 4, Southern California.

No one was arrested in connection with the shooting. At midday, sheriff’s officials said they were attempting to determine to whom the gun was registered and how the teen obtained the weapon.

A number of other teens have been playing this potentially fatal “game,” with deadly results. In another heart-breaking case reported in the Inquisitr, a 17-year-old Kokomo, Indiana, teen also died. In that case, other teens were present, though not involved in the deadly Russian Roulette game. Leroy Young was a guest in a home on December 4, 2014, when he too produced a gun, loaded a single round into the weapon’s chamber, spun the cylinder, and held the gun against his temple, firing the single bullet into his head, fatally wounding himself.

[Photo Courtesy of the Inquisitr]