Impromptu game of Russian roulette injures 21-year-old man

PORT LUDLOW — A night of drinking in a sand pit off Andy Cooper Road ended abruptly for seven Bainbridge Island residents on Tuesday when a 21-year-old man put a revolver to his head and pulled the trigger

A spontaneous game of Russian roulette sent Ted McFarlane to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with a gun wound to the head, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office reported Wednesday.

McFarlane was in satisfactory condition, a Harborview hospital nursing supervisor said.

Sheriff’s deputies on Wednesday issued McFarlane a citation for aiming and discharging a firearm.

Party of seven

Early Tuesday afternoon, McFarlane went into a gated sand pit area south of Port Ludlow with four other men and two women, ages ranging from 18 to 23, a Jefferson County sheriff’s report states.

“There, they proceeded to drink, smoke marijuana and fire a revolver that several of the men stated may have been stolen,” Jefferson County Undersheriff Tim Perry said Wednesday.

Some members of the group drove a pickup truck carrying a Kubota lawn tractor and an all-terrain vehicle with the intent of riding them around the sand pit, the report states.

At about 9 p.m., McFarlane put the revolver to his temple and told the group that he wanted to play Russian roulette.

After several members of the group pleaded with McFarlane to stop, he replied that the revolver was empty, the report states.

“McFarlane then put the muzzle of the revolver under his chin, pointed up into his head and pulled the trigger,” Perry’s report states.

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