A Columbus High School student has died after he apparently shot himself in a game of “Russian Roulette” on Poplar Street in Columbus Tuesday night, police say.
Lowndes County Coroner Greg Merchant identified the victim as 17-year-old Tovaris Deloach of Columbus. Merchant said Deloach was declared brain dead late Wednesday afternoon.
The incident occurred at about 8:30 p.m. Deloach was taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle Tuesday after officers with Columbus Police Department responded to the scene.
CPD is investigating both Deloach’s shooting and a shooting on the same street at 3:45 a.m. Wednesday, which investigators believe to have been in retaliation to the earlier shooting, according to a CPD press release.
No one was injured in the second shooting, but a Poplar Street home was hit by gunfire, the press release said.
Witnesses told police Deloach had been talking about Russian Roulette Tuesday night when he took a revolver, removed the ammunition cartridges, reloaded the weapon with one cartridge, placed the gun to his head and pulled the trigger twice. The second time, the gun discharged.
Preliminary investigation by CPD and the Narcotics Task Force suggests the gun shot was self-inflicted, the press release said.
While CPD does not typically release details in self-inflicted shootings, the press release said investigators are hoping to stave off more retaliatory violence in this case by releasing the details of Deloach’s shooting.
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