Man allegedly shot friend dead while trying to cure victim's hiccups

A soldier trying to scare another soldier out of hiccups shot his comrade in the face, killing him, authorities said on Tuesday. Both soldiers, joined by a third man, were drinking alcohol and watching football at the time of the Sunday night incident.

"The victim had the hiccups. The suspect pulled out a gun to scare him in order to stop the hiccups," said spokesman Carroll Smith of the Killeen, Texas, Police Department. Pfc. Patrick Edward Myers, 27, was charged on Tuesday with manslaughter, and Justice of the Peace Garland Potvin set his bond at $1 million.



Killed was Pfc. Isaac Lawrence Young, 22, of Ash Grove, Missouri, a motor transport operator at the Army base. Young entered active duty in May 2011 and arrived at Fort Hood in October 2011. Myers is a soldier at the base, as was Young at the time of his death, said Fort Hood spokesman Chris Haug.

Police responded to a shooting shortly after 10 p.m. and found a man shot in the face and two other men at the residence. Myers allegedly "produced a handgun and while handling it in an unsafe manner, discharged the handgun striking the victim in the face," police said. Young was pronounced dead during the ambulance transport to Skylark Field, where he had been scheduled for an airlift to a hospital.