Security guard shot by cop in “Russian Roulette”
Russian roulette, for those who are not aware, is a deadly game that dates back to the invention of the handgun known as a revolver. A bullet is placed in only one of the barrel’s six chambers and one by one each participant in turn points the loaded gun at his temple and pulls the trigger. The odds are five to one that you’ll win, but when the payment for losing is your life, five to one is a pretty poor bet. This weekend a policeman in Ladyville played the game with slightly different rules. Instead of pointing the gun at his own head, he pointed it at somebody else’s… with predictably tragic results. Patrick Jones reports.
The incident happened shortly after three o’clock on Saturday morning and has left the Ladyville community stunned. A distraught family is trying to understand how one of its members could have been shot by an officer sworn to uphold the law.
Patrick Jones
“Eye witnesses to the horrifying incident say officer Grant, who was on duty, was playing around with his police issued revolver. The gun play early Saturday morning has left twenty one year old Deon Smith with a .38 caliber slug in his head and in a fight for his life.”
It had been a typical night at Raul’s Rose Garden. Most patrons of the popular bar and brothel had already left. By closing time, only six people remained inside, including police officer Alex Grant, on special private duty and Raul’s Security Guard Deon Smith.
Steven Young, Eyewitness
“This accident all started, the police officer was outside playing with the gun. He pointed it at another young man. The young man cussed him, told him don’t play with the gun. They went inside. When they got inside, he went to the counter at the bar, he took out all the bullets out of the gun and put one back in, spun the barrel, slapped it back up, he pointed it back at the same young man once again, and the young man told him the same words.”
Guadaloupe Diaz, Bartender
“The police come to the bar and he started to talk with the other guys then he mentioned if they know what is Russian roulette and one guy that stood beside him said no, I don’t know what is Russian roulette. He said well I’m gonna show you what is Russian roulette. He take out the five bullets that were in the gun and he places one back into the gun and he spinned the barrel, pointed it at me, I told him don’t play with that stuff around me. he said no, it’s safe, its safe. I said no firearm is safe. The he took it and pointed it on the other guy.”
Steven Young
“At the same time Deon was just coming back from in the back of the club and Deon walked up. Deon told him Grant, don’t play with the gun, put it away and at the same time Grant just pulled the gun and as soon as he got just direct with Deon, the gun went off.”
The single bullet entered Smith’s right cheek and is now lodged in the back of his head. As Smith slumped to the ground in a pool of his own blood, astonished friends and staff of the establishment rushed to his assistance.
Guadaloupe Diaz
“I told him, you shot him. Then he threw the gun on the bar and said he hold his head and he said damn, he said, I didn’t mean to do it. I said I told you to stop playing with that thing. I said that thing don’t have no owner. I said you don’t know what would happen if you haul that trigger, He said I didn’t know it was going to happen like this. I said you know, I told you before.”
Steven Young
“You said it all started with the police officer playing with his gun, quote unquote. Is this officer in the habit of playing with his gun?
“Well, this is not the first time I’ve seen him playing with his gun. He’s been up there before playing with it and there’s a little shop up here. They come to the shop sometimes with the gun, they take it out and I don’t think the gun should be exposed the way they exposed it.”
Police officer Alex Grant has been interdicted from duty and now faces a number of charges in connection with Saturday morning’s incident. Patrick Jones, for News Five.
Deon Smith remains in critical condition at Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. His family is trying to raise funds to send him to Miami for emergency treatment. An account, number 1-3-3-9-9, has been set up at the Holy Redeemer Credit Union to receive donations. Alex Grant has been charged with attempted murder, deadly harm and use of deadly means of harm.
