Fort Hood Manslaughter: Soldier Fatally Shot Friend To Cure Hiccups
Fort Hood, Texas – A soldier has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in a military court as a result of fatally shooting a fellow G.I. in an attempt to scare away his hiccups.
The shooting occurred back in late September 2012 in an apartment in Killeen, Texas. The plea deal was entered into Thursday, according to AP:
“Fort Hood officials say Spc. Patrick Edward Myers, of Spartanburg, S.C., was sentenced Thursday to 3 1/2 years in military prison. He also was busted to private and will receive a bad-conduct discharge.”
CNN reported at the time of the incident that the two men were allegedly drinking and watching football on TV:
” ‘The victim had the hiccups. The suspect pulled out a gun to scare him in order to stop the hiccups,’ said spokesman Carroll Smith of the Killeen, Texas, Police Department.”
The Los Angeles Times provided further details on the incident of a hiccup cure gone horribly wrong:
“When they got to the home, police said, ‘they found a male suffering from a gunshot wound to his face and two other males at the residence…. At one point one of the males produced a handgun and, while handling it in an unsafe manner, discharged the handgun, striking the victim in the face.’ “
Myers reportedly told police that he thought the handgun in question contained dummy rounds when it fired and killed his friend, Pfc. Isaac Lawrence Young, 22, a decorated soldier. Young was tragically pronounced dead before first responders could airlift him to a local hospital.
