Hiccup Cure Proves Fatal: ‘Bang, You’re Dead’ and Boy Dies

GLOCESTER, R.I. — A 19-year-old who shot his best friend in the head says he was only trying to cure a friend’s hiccups by scaring him, but prosecutors have charged the young man with murder.

“It looks like it was just a foolish, foolish accident,” said Robert Lovell, the victim’s father, who is a detective on the Providence police force.

David E. Duquette, 19, of Glocester was released on $40,000 surety bail after being arraigned on a first-degree murder charge before a District Court judge Monday. No plea was entered.

Duquette told investigators that he and Nicholas M. Lovell, 16, were playing a computer game in Duquette’s trailer home Sunday night when Lovell developed the hiccups.

Duquette said he went to his parents’ bedroom and got a .38-caliber revolver, which he assumed was not loaded. He said he returned and put the gun to the back of Lovell’s head and yelled, “Bang! You’re dead!” The gun went off.