Young Woman Who Shot Self Has Died

East Ridge police said Tuesday that a 17-year-old girl who accidentally shot herself last Sunday has died.

According to Capt. Tim Mullinax, the investigation into the shooting revealed that the girl _ whose name has not been released _ took a revolver, placed one round in a chamber, put it to her head and pulled the trigger.

Authorities said that a relative who was with the girl at the Dogwood Apartments tried to stop the girl from playing what is commonly referred to as “Russian Roulette.” Officials said that interviews of several witnesses at the scene confirmed the facts of the incident.

According to a press release issued on Monday, authorities were called to the Dogwood Apartments on Eads Street Sunday night at 7 p.m. on a person shot. As officers were responding, information was relayed to them that the victim, a 17-year-old girl, had been taken to a hospital via a personal car.

The press release states that information developed thus far indicates that the girl accidentally shot herself with a revolver inside an apartment that she was visiting.

Capt. Mullinax said that the investigation is still ongoing pending final evaluation of autopsy reports from the medical examiner’s office.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.