Man’s Shooting Death Found to Be Accidental

Investigators have determined that a Garden Grove man found dead in a home here shot himself accidentally, officials said Wednesday.

Police originally suspected that Hoa Thai Tran, 18, had been slain after he was discovered with a bullet wound in the head last week in a living room in the 200 block of South Shannon Street.

But police ruled the death accidental after talking with people who were in the home. They said they saw Tran play with a gun he brought to the home and put the barrel to his head, said Maureen Haacker, a Police Department spokeswoman.

“Apparently he did not know the gun was loaded or had a bullet in the chamber,” Haacker said.

Tran went to the home looking for a friend and was let inside by his friend’s mother, police said. Tran was in the living room and accidentally shot himself in front of four other people in the home at the time, Haacker said.

Haacker said investigators were still looking for the weapon that Tran used. It was unclear what happened to the gun after Tran shot himself, she said. But investigators believe there was no criminal act involved in Tran’s death, Haacker said.