Columbus 13-year-old dead in shooting suspected to be ‘Russian Roulette,’ coroner says
A 13-year-old Columbus boy died Monday from a gunshot wound to the head possibly inflicted during a game of “Russian Roulette,” authorities said.
He was Columbus’ second 13-year-old killed by gunfire in a spate of weekend shootings.
Samuel Tatum, 13, was pronounced dead in intensive care at 4:06 p.m. Monday at Piedmont Columbus Regional, where he was admitted at 12:20 a.m. Saturday, said Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan.
The shooting was reported at 9:47 p.m. Friday in the 6600 block of Dorsey Drive, where Tatum was shot out on the street, allegedly while playing the deadly game with several others, the coroner said. The contest typically requires a revolver.
Dorsey Drive is off Schatulga Road in east Columbus.
Tatum was shot in the right side of the head, Bryan said. If investigators confirm his death resulted from Russian Roulette, it will be ruled an accident, not a homicide or suicide, the coroner said.
Tatum is the second 13-year-old to die over a weekend when Columbus had three more deaths from gunfire. Mayor Skip Henderson noted the abrupt rise while speaking to a Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Breakfast on Monday morning.
The other 13-year-old killed was Jamareion Davis, hit in the chest with a shotgun blast outside his home in the 800 block of 32nd Avenue, off Illges Road in the Carver Heights area. Davis was pronounced dead at Piedmont Columbus Regional at 7:59 p.m. Friday.
Three weekend homicides within 24 hours Friday and Saturday brought Columbus’ 2020 total to five.