Durango man who fatally shot self: ‘It’s not loaded, see?’

A 21-year-old man who shot himself in the head in Durango was “messing around” with a gun that he thought was unloaded.

Steve Torres shot himself inside a home on E. 4th Avenue early Thursday, reported Bret Hauff with the Durango Herald, citing information from La Plata County Coroner Jann Smith.

Smith told the Herald that Torres had pulled out the gun while he was with a friend. The friend asked him to put the gun away, and Torres said, “It’s not loaded, see,” before putting the gun up to his head. That’s when the gun went off.

The coroner’s office performed a toxicology exam on Torres’ body to see whether drugs or alcohol played a role in the fatal mistake, according to the Herald. Smith told the newspaper she wasn’t sure it would be classified as a suicide.

Durango police didn’t respond to a call for a comment, the Herald said.

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Information from The Durango Herald — DurangoHerald.com

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