Ladyville police say they are conducting an intensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding the shooting death of T.J. Middleton, 19, which occurred Saturday night.
At 12:15 a.m., Ladyville police were called to an area in front of a house on Aracari Street in Ladyville, where they found Middleton face up, motionless, with a single gunshot wound to the right side of the head.
A young man present at the scene, mechanic Alfredo Singh, 24, of Mahogany Street in Belize City, said that he and several friends were present, socializing with Middleton, when the young man suddenly pulled out a shiny .38 chrome revolver.
According to Singh, Middleton suggested that they all play a game of what is known as “Russian roulette,” and Middleton agreed to go first.
Typically, in Russian roulette, a single round is placed in one of the revolver’s cylinders, which is spun. The participant does not know in which cylinder the bullet is, and therefore risks certain death by putting the gun to the head and pulling the trigger.
According to our reports, the hammer fell on an empty chamber the first time, but fired when he tried again.
Famous people who have played Russian roulette (which some theorize is not actually Russian in origin) include Malcolm X, who pulled the trigger three times to convince his partners in crime that he was not afraid to die (The Autobiography of Malcolm X, written by Alex Haley and quoted on Wikipedia).
Middleton reportedly died instantly, and his body awaits a post-mortem at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital.
His parents, however, reject the notion of their son shooting himself. His mother, Janice Middleton, says that T.J. had been threatened over the same gun, which had been hidden by him and others, and that he had taken out the gun to protect himself. T.J. was murdered, and there was more than one shot, possibly 4 or 5, she insisted.