Getting rid of a bad attack of hiccups can be a real bitch. You try everything – drinking a glass of water, holding your breath or counting back from 100 while jumping on one leg. A classic method is getting a friend to scare you suddenly. Pulling a gun on them should do the trick.

This is exactly what happened at the Fort Hood Military Base in good ol’ gun-loving Texas. Relaxing during some downtime on one of ‘merica’s biggest bases, Private First Class  Isaac Lawrence Young developed a bad bout of the hiccups. Watching Sunday night football and enjoying a few cold brewskis with his bud, Young’s army buddy PFC Patrick Myers didn’t want their quality time ruined.

So he did what any good friend would do – pulled out his handgun suddenly in an attempt to scare Young’s hiccups away. Unfortunately, the weapon also went off, discharging into Young’s face and killing him instantly.

A spokesperson for the police had the following to say:

The victim had the hiccups. The suspect pulled out a gun to scare him in order to stop the hiccups. [Myers] produced a handgun and while handling it in an unsafe manner, discharged the handgun striking the victim in the face.

Myers has been charged with manslaughter and will be facing the appropriate legal action. I have to wonder though – is this an unfortunate accident, or the best ever cover-up for shooting someone in the face?

[Source: CNN]