Russian roulette, by its very nature, is a potentially lethal game. After all, when playing it you pull the trigger of a revolver that has one loaded chamber and it’s down to chance whether the firing chamber has the round in it or not. If it does, you get shot; if it doesn’t, you’re safe for the time being. Even though the game can result in death, this hasn’t stopped many people from playing it over the years and taking the ultimate risk.
There are no statistics on exactly how many people have died playing Russian roulette. However, it’s estimated that since the game’s invention, thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people have lost their lives playing the game. Some of the better-known cases of people dying from playing Russian roulette are listed below:
Ivan ‘JP’ Cole
Ivan Cole, also known as ‘JP’, was twenty-five years old at the time of his death. He was a mixed martial arts fighter and lived in the city of Dallas, Texas. It was reported that Cole killed himself while playing Russian roulette in an apartment. He left behind a wife and a four-year-old daughter. In the aftermath of his death, his wife set up a Go Fund Me page and attributed her husband’s passing to ‘gun play’, while the local police department initially classed the death as ‘unexplained’ until the autopsy was completed.
Aimo Leikas
Aimo Leikas was a Finnish magician and entertainer. He was born in 1947 and early on in his career, he specialised in things such as hypnosis, illusions and balancing acts. During the 60s and 70s, the entertainment industry became a lot more competitive, thanks to the rise of TV. And so, Leikas adapted his act and began performing riskier and more extreme tricks. Unfortunately, he decided to take things to a very dangerous place and he would play Russian roulette. He ended up tragically dying at the age of twenty-nine when playing the game in front of an audience. His death ended up being classed as a work-related accident.
Santos Rodriguez
Back in 1973, twelve-year-old Santos Rodriguez and his brother were being questioned about a burglary by Darrell L. Cain, an officer from Dallas Police. The officer suspected the two young brothers of stealing and, rather horrifically, forced them to play Russian roulette in an attempt to get them to confess. Unfortunately, Santos ended up getting shot and died as a result.
Ana Julia Lima Clemente
Ana was just fifteen years of age when she died from playing Russian roulette. She lived in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina and was at home with a friend a year younger than her when the tragic incident occurred. She got a hold of a revolver and was reportedly ‘fooling around’ with it. She pulled the trigger twice and nothing happened. Then, when she pulled it for a third time the round was in the firing chamber and was shot at her, killing her. The revolver belonged to the girl’s uncle and after an investigation was carried out, it was determined that the death was a tragic accident and that no foul play was involved.
Matthew Minkler
Another teenager who died as a result of Russian roulette was Matthew Minkler. He lived in the city of Henderson near Las Vegas and was only seventeen years old when he passed away. Police started a murder investigation and of the two teenage boys who were with Minkler when he died, one was charged with murder with a deadly weapon and the other with accessory to murder after the fact and destroying evidence. Despite one of the boys telling the police the other shot Minkler during a game of Russian roulette, Minkler’s family didn’t believe the gaming element to the story and said that Matthew was simply shot, possibly as a way of shutting him up.
Johnny Ace
Johnny Ace’s full name was John Marshall Alexander Jr. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee and died in Houston, Texas, at the age of twenty-five. He was an R&B singer and had a number of hit singles in the 50s. His death was at first attributed to Russian roulette, however, it later transpired that while Ace technically did kill himself by shooting himself, he wasn’t actually playing the game. According to witnesses, Ace was in a dressing room and has been drinking. He had a pistol with him and pointed it at his girlfriend then at another woman. Someone told him to be careful with the pistol and Ace then replied that it wasn’t loaded – he then pointed it at his face, pulled the trigger and, because the pistol was indeed loaded, he died the and there.
Don’t Add To This List
What all these people have in common is that they died too young and they died when they shouldn’t have. It can’t be stressed enough how dangerous Russian roulette is – the same can obviously be said for guns in general. Hopefully, the number of deaths from playing the game will decrease in the coming years.