Police: Drinking led to Russian roulette death

Jason D. Brouch, 25, told police he and Michael McCloskey began drinking Friday at his Eagle River apartment. On Saturday afternoon, they went into the back bedroom. Brouch pulled out his .44 revolver, put one round in the chamber, spun the cylinder, pointed the gun at his body and pulled the trigger, he told police. He said he told McCloskey that he could "see the brass" when he spun the cylinder so he knew he was safe.

"I f---ing hate this game," McCloskey told him, according to charges filed in court Monday.

Brouch told police he went another round.

"I did it again and that time I pointed it at my head and clicked," Brouch said, according to the charges. McCloskey asked if they were done yet.

Later on, McCloskey wanted to take pictures for his Facebook page with Brouch's guns, the .44-caliber Ruger revolver and a 9mm semi-automatic pistol, Brouch told police. They were intoxicated and took various pictures, he said.

"The photos included them pointing the firearms at each other and at themselves and staged to look like they were wrestling around, fighting for control of the guns, or contemplating suicide," prosecutor Gustaf Olson wrote in the charging document.

Now Michael M. McCloskey, 26, is dead and Brouch is charged with second-degree murder.

Brouch had his first court appearance Monday. District Court Judge Patrick Hanley set bail at $250,000.

He is a private first class in the Army. He told the judge he makes about $3,000 a month and wasn't sure he could afford a lawyer. Hanley appointed a public defender while Brouch's finances are evaluated.

Brouch's wife and stepchildren, ages 12 and 14, were home over the weekend when the shooting occurred, police said. Hanley told Brouch he couldn't talk to them about it.

Wearing jailhouse yellow, Brouch blinked rapidly during the hearing. His wife was in the jailhouse courtroom. They looked at each other a few times. She cried and didn't want to speak with reporters.

No one answered the door at the family's Eagle River fourplex earlier on Monday. There was still a beer in the armrest of a chair on the deck, and a toy rifle by the front door.

According to the charges, after the men took the pictures on Saturday night, Brouch put the guns away. But the men kept on drinking.

Early Sunday morning, McCloskey wanted to see the .44 revolver again, the charges say. Brouch told police he retrieved it, emptied the cylinder, and handed it to McCloskey, who spun it with the hammer half-cocked and asked for a single round. McCloskey said he was going to play a game, Brouch told officers.

McCloskey spun the chamber again, pointed the gun at his belly, and pulled the trigger.

"Brouch said he expected to hear a click but he heard a deafening bang because McCloskey had shot himself in the abdomen, losing the game of 'Russian Roulette,' " Olson, the prosecutor, wrote in the charging document.

Brouch called 911. Police got to the fourplex just after 2 a.m. About an hour later, McCloskey was pronounced dead at Providence Alaska Medical Center.

Under Alaska law, what Brouch did amounts to second-degree murder because he exhibited "extreme indifference to the value of human life," the charges say. The state Senate journal from June 12, 1978, includes commentary specifically addressing such situations.

"An example of conduct covered by this provision would be shooting through a tent under circumstances where the defendant did not know a person was inside or persuading a person to play 'Russian Roulette,' " the charges say, quoting the Senate journal.

Anita Shell, Anchorage police spokeswoman, said the fact that Brouch provided the gun and ammunition makes him responsible, even if he didn't pull the trigger.

Brouch is from Fresno, Calif., the Army said. He joined in March 2009. He had not deployed, according to said Maj. William Coppernoll, a spokesman for the Army in Alaska. On Sunday, Anchorage police said he had served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is a construction engineer assigned to the 6th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Maneuver Enhancement Brigade. The victim also was a soldier in the brigade, the Army said.

The Army has released no information on McCloskey -- it allows families 24 hours before providing names and details to the public. Prosecutors and police identified him as the victim. Police say his home is in Beverly, N.J., not North Carolina, as originally reported.

Reach Lisa Demer at ldemer@adn.com or 257-4390.