Posted on 07/02/2012 8:18:35 PM PDT by Beave Meister
LARGO | Surrounded by teenage friends on the back porch of his house, Thorin Montgomery was first up in a contest of Russian roulette.
Right away, the .38-caliber revolver fired its round. Badly wounded, the 17-year old was rushed to the hospital Friday night. Keeping vigil, friends wrote wishes online that he might summon some sort of inner strength and pull through.
But he died around 3 a.m. Sunday at Bayfront Medical Center. And friends who now dedicated Web posts to his memory struggled to reconcile how the teen with a bright smile and happy demeanor could be dead.
"Truly blessed to have been such amazing friends with you Thorin … rest your soul in paradise," wrote one.
Deaths and injuries from the act of bravado — putting a bullet in the chamber, spinning it, pointing it at your head and pulling the trigger to see if it goes off — are uncommon in Florida, but not unheard of. An expert who has studied the phenomenon suggests it's one way young men — and the victims are almost always young men — seek the rush of a thrill.
(Excerpt) Read more at theledger.com ...
Darwin wins again.
Stupid people should never pick up a gun.
I'm sure everyone was stunned. This NEVER happens in the movies...
You can’t fix stupid.
First up. First out.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. At 17 I had been shooting for years and had no doubt my guns, and my father’s, could kill me if misused in such a stupid way.
What a fun game! Can we play online?
Why in hell would you even consider it unless satan had blocked your thinking self...
Years ago, a male student at my high school died playing Russian Roulette, don’t remember his name.
Don't think so.
I’m sure that they will praise the kid at his funeral and blame it on someone else. The parents will form a non-profit organization to educate the entire US on the dangers of firearms and try to deflect any criticism of their parenting skills. The guilt and blame will be redirected to the unidentified “them”.
Friends??
I’ve always associated males with Russian roulette. Has anyone ever read about a girl being that stupid? I suppose they have but I imagine it’s rare.
One thing good about the gene pool, it’s self-cleaning.
Does that mean Thorin won or lost? I guess I don’t know the rules of that game too well.
♪ Well she starved her self to death, with no brother to stop her ♫
♪ so let's remember her now with a special TV offer ♪
Meets all of the qualifications.
So how are the Darwin Awards actually determined?
Nominees significantly improve the gene pool by eliminating themselves from the human race in an obviously stupid way. They are self-selected examples of the dangers inherent in a lack of common sense, and all human races, cultures, and socioeconomic groups are eligible to compete. Actual winners must meet the following criteria:
Reproduction
Out of the gene pool: dead or sterile.
Excellence
Astounding misapplication of judgment.
Self-Selection
Cause one's own demise.
Maturity
Capable of sound judgment.
Veracity
The event must be true.
I believe we have a winner.
That party wasn’t a dud.
There is a Darwin award winner (confirmed), that lost at Russian Roulette playing with a semi-auto handgun.
He went out with a bang ping.
I’m always perplexed by stories like this.
The only thing that could have boosted his score would have been trying to play with a semi-automatic.
The only thing that could have boosted his score would have been trying to play with a semi-automatic.
He only had a 1 in 6 chance of winning so the Schwartz must have been with him.
Better to die than live the rest of your life with the sound of that hammer dropping every night you go to sleep.
at least his medical bills are now covered.....
The house always wins in roulette.
Zing.... Instant thought when I saw the title......
>>...struggled to reconcile how the teen with a bright smile and happy demeanor
Oh, sure. Just like in his photo. /s
No, no Thorin!
How many times we gotta tell you, man?
It’s ONE bullet, FIVE empty chambers.
Exactly. I'm female, but I remember teenaged boys doing things like this when I was growing up. We girls took chances, too, just in other ways. The teen years can be deadly.
Am I the only one to notice his name matches the name of a character in The Hobbit? RIP, young man.
My first thought, too. I would guess the police have probably considered that possibility.
Remember that old Vietnam era movie “Deerhunter”? I saw that and had spooky dreams for months afterwards.
Yes, this kind of crap is stupid, but so is a lot of the other high danger, thrill seeking crap that people tend to admire.
Seriously?? [facepalm]
I guess you'd check and want the entry wound to be contact or point blank, and there should be GSR on his hand on the same side as the entry wound (and no GSR on the hands of any of the other "players")
> it’s one way young men — and the victims are almost always young men — seek the rush of a thrill.
Pro Tip: Skateboards are cheaper than guns.
Girls starve themselves literally to death. Stupidity is an equal opportunity state of mind.
At least he died doing what he loved.
From the Wikipedia:
History
The term "Russian Roulette" dates back to a 1937 short story of the same title:
- ‘Did you ever hear of Russian Roulette?’ [...] With the Russian army in Romania, around 1917, some officer would suddenly pull out his revolver, remove a cartridge from the cylinder, spin the cylinder, snap it back in place, put it to his head and pull the trigger.[1]
Note that this varies from the current practice of Russian Roulette, in that one chamber was left empty. Modern Russian Roulette places only one bullet in the gun.
Yep. The current example definitely bolsters Sir Charles' Theory.
As a parent I'd opt for the Russian thing as a way for my kid to go.
I'm thinking from the looks of this dude and the activities he was endeavoring in, that his future wasn't that bright.
Well, you have a point.
But, I have had a friend offed himself in the same manner.
The blood and brains on the couch and wall were a mess.
I miss him. This was the stupidest thing.
A .380 auto that he was sure he was not loaded.
Yes, drugs were involved.
You’re not the only one to notice that. My thought on that was that someone who names their kid “Thorin” is probably a little further removed from reality than most parents. Very likely a lot of fantasy and escapism in that household.
Combine that with the standard propensity for teenage boy impressions of invulnerability, and you get someone who very likely didn’t even consider that in russian roulette sometimes the cartridge starts out under the hammer. He’s probably seen more than a few movies with RR scenes, where the characters involved go 3 or 4 pulls without anything happening.
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