SPRING, Texas – A teenager is in critical condition Friday after shooting himself in the head, according to Harris County deputies. The father who lives inside the home said his son’s best friend was playing Russian roulette.
About 9:30 a.m., emergency crews were called to a home in the 21000 block of Greenham Drive near Spring after reports of someone shooting themselves, investigators said.
“I was sitting on the couch and I heard bang, bang, and really didn’t (see) a whole lot of it,” said Jason Gay who lives behind the home where the shooting happened. He thought what he heard was a nail gun.
Detectives with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said the shooting is under investigation, but the dad who lives at the home said his 15-year-old son’s friend was playing Russian roulette - an instance where one puts a bullet in the gun's chamber, spins it and pulls the trigger.
The father said he had picked up his son’s best friend Thursday evening from a trailer park neighborhood to sleep over. He said the friend was in and out of group homes and was in the foster care system. The dad said he went to the gym, went to work Friday morning and his son called him in hysterics.
Emergency crews took the teenager who the dad said is about 15 years old to the hospital. Investigators were still in the process of notifying his family.
Detectives would not say what type of gun was used, but that they have recovered the weapon.
The dad said he doesn’t own a gun and doesn’t know where his son’s friend got the weapon. Deputies are also working to trace where the weapon came from.
The dad said his son was not at school because he is now enrolled in an online high school course.
Investigators interviewed the teen who witnessed the shooting and he was back with his father once deputies left the scene.
The father said his son told him, he did not participate in the game.