'So-Called Friends' Took Turns Shooting at Each Other While Wearing Helmet — Until Things Got Deadly By Ben Brachfeld

A Texas man is facing a murder charge after allegedly killing his friend while the two played a game with a firearm.

In what Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez called “hard to believe” circumstances, “so-called friends” Sean Odonnell, 37, and Aaron Prout, 34, allegedly took turns shooting at each other with a rifle as the other wore a Kevlar helmet inside a house on Pennington Hills Drive in Spring, about 30 miles north of downtown Houston — until things turned deadly.

Deputies responded on Aug. 17 to a call that was initially reported as a possible suicide, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said on social media.

There, they discovered Prout, a British national living in Texas, suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. He was taken to the hospital but could not be saved.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

“Things weren’t adding up” with the suicide story, Gonzalez said. Eventually, detectives charged Odonnell with murder on Thursday, Aug. 28 and booked him into the Harris County Jail.

Odonnell is being held in jail on a $300,000 bond and is due back before a judge on Sept. 2, according to Harris County court records. It’s not clear if he has entered a plea or retained an attorney.