A Michigan man fatally shot himself at his birthday party moments after he accidentally shot and killed his best friend while playing with a gun, police said.
Zachary Woodcock was celebrating his 21st birthday on Friday at the Bavarian Haus Apartments in Merrill with a group of friends when the incident occurred, the Saginaw County Sheriff’s Office said.
Lieutenant Mike Gomez told Michigan Live that two men, both 21, had been shot at the apartment.
Zachary Woodcock (left) shot and killed himself at his 21st birthday after unintentionally shooting and killing his best friend, Richard Skillman (right)
Police said after Woodcock realized he had shot Skillman, he went outside and turned the gun on himself
The first victim, Richard Cody Skillman, was pronounced dead at the scene from a gunshot wound to the chest.
Woodcock was transported to the hospital, where he died the following day.
Investigators said Woodcock and a few friends went back to his bedroom during the party and Woodcock pulled out a handgun. The weapon accidentally went off and struck Skillman in the chest.
Skillman, 21, was pronounced dead at the scene
Gomez told ABC 12 that as people were tending to Skillman, Woodcock left the apartment. Realizing what he had done, Woodcock turned the gun on himself.
‘They heard a shot, walked out and there he was,’ Gomez said, adding that the two men were best friends and both were gun enthusiasts.
According to the lieutenant, about 10 guns were removed from the apartment and Skillman’s car, which had been parked outside the complex.
Gomez also said both men ‘were each armed with multiple guns’.
‘It seems to me that this was an unintentional shooting instead of an accidental shooting,’ he told NBC 25. ‘Anytime firearms and alcohol are involved in the same incident, bad things are going to happen.’
A GoFundMe for Woodcock, who worked as a truck driver for Standard Electric, has been set up to raise money for funeral expenses.
A funeral for Skillman, also a truck driver, has not yet been announced, according to a Facebook post from his mother, Wanda Peck-Skillman.
Police said Woodcock was celebrating his 21st birthday with Skillman and some friends at the Merrill apartment complex when the shooting occurred