A bizarre shooting experiment between two Houston-area men ended in tragedy, leaving one dead and the other facing murder charges, police say. Sean Odonnell, 37, was arrested Thursday in connection with the death of Aaron Prout, a 34-year-old originally from the UK who was living in Harris County, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said, per Houston Public Media. Deputies had responded to what was initially described as a possible suicide at a home on Aug. 17. However, investigators found inconsistencies at the scene, Gonzalez said.
It was later determined Odonnell and Prout had taken turns shooting each other with a rifle while wearing a ballistic helmet inside the residence. Prout was shot in the head and later died at the hospital. "Hard to believe two, so-called friends, would take turns shooting at each other wearing a kevlar helmet, inside a house in a residential neighborhood, while using a rifle," Gonzalez commented in an X post. Odonnell, who lives at the home where the incident occurred, was expected to be charged with murder on Thursday. Records show he was arrested four days after the shooting on an unrelated charge of driving while intoxicated.
A Harris County judge noted Odonnell and Prout had also been drinking during their shooting experiment, which involved holding a kevlar helmet "above their heads until the complainant ended up with a bullet hole in the top of his head," per KTRK. The judge said Odonnell initially claimed Prout shot himself. But the pair had previously sent video footage of themselves "shooting with the helmet back and forth" to friends, who'd "told them to stop," the judge said. Odonnell's bail is reportedly set at $3,000.
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