California Teen Fatally Shoots Himself Playing Russian Roulette

A teenager in southern California fatally shot himself in the head early Monday morning during an apparent game of Russian roulette, police said.

The 17-year-old boy and two cousins were in an apartment in Torrance when he showed a weapon and said he would would play the game, the Los Angeles Times reports. Russian roulette involves slotting one bullet into a revolver, then spinning the cylinder and placing the gun against the participant’s temple and pulling the trigger.

The cousins had begged him “not to do it,” but the teenager lifted a .38 Special revolver to his head and fired once, according to Deputy Juanita Navarro-Suarez of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The boy, who lived with an older brother and sister-in-law, was pronounced dead at the hospital and his death was declared an accident.

[Los Angeles Times]