Jobless man kills self in front of friends

A 32-year-old jobless man shot and killed himself Monday morning as he played a solitary game of Russian roulette.

Ricky Flores, a resident of J. P. Laurel Street, T. S. Cruz Subdivision in Novaliches, Quezon City, was declared dead on arrival by doctors at Quezon City General Hospital (QCGH) from a lone gunshot wound in the head.

PO2 Anthony Tejerero of the Quezon City Police District Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit said the incident happened at 1:30 a.m. Monday near the victim’s house.

According to the policeman, the victim who was drunk had gone home to retrieve his .38-cal. revolver. He then went to a neighbor’s house where his friends Kenneth Velasco, Domingo Veniegas and Mark Joseph Lansang were playing billiards.

As the victim was talking to his friends, he took out his gun and removed the bullets, except for one, Tejerero added.

To his friends’ surprise, the victim aimed the gun at his temple and squeezed the trigger although it did not go off. They then tried to stop him but he refused to listen, pulling the trigger three more times before the gun went off.

The bullet, Tejerero said, hit the victim in the right temple and went through the top of his head.

His friends rushed him to Novaliches District Hospital for treatment. He was later transferred to QCGH but he died along the way.

The case investigator said they were verifying with the Firearms and Explosives Division the ownership of the .38-cal. revolver that the victim used on himself.—Jeannette I. Andrade