An Alaska man accidentally shot and killed his girlfriend while “playing” with a revolver — then found another gun and shot himself while his friend was on the phone with 911, police said.
CloeRae McBrayer, 21, was killed by boyfriend Landon Lowrance, 22, last Wednesday — just days before they planned to get engaged, according to her grieving family.
Lowrance “shot McBrayer with a revolver while playing with the gun and pointing it at her,” the Fairbanks Police Department said in a release about the “tragic and preventable loss of life.”
A friend of Lowrance’s immediately contacted 911 and waited on the line with dispatchers while officers responded when “a disturbance could be heard in the background during the call,” cops said.
The unidentified friend “attempted to physically intervene when Lowrance obtained another firearm and shot himself,” the department said.
McBrayer — who was studying to be a teacher — was already dead when police arrived at the scene. A “critically injured” Lowrance was rushed to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, where he later died.
The caller “was interviewed by detectives and is not believed to have been involved in the shootings,” police said. It was not immediately clear at whose home the double tragedy occurred.
“This incident is a tragic and preventable loss of life,” the department said while urging “everyone to practice firearm safety at all times.”
“Firearms should always be handled responsibly and safely, and individuals should never participate in games or activities involving firearms that place anyone at risk of injury or death.”
McBrayer was an “All-American Girl” born and raised in Alabama who was “talking about getting engaged this weekend” with Lowrance, according to her mom, Amanda Hooper.
“She’s the sunshine of the family. She’d love to be the center of attention. She’s bubbly, she wants you to talk to everybody. She would sing, she helped everybody,” her heartbroken mom told Alaska’s News Source.
She said McBrayer, who had recently been accepted to the University of Alaska Fairbanks to pursue a career in teaching, started dating Lowrence after meeting through a mutual friend.
“I talked to his mom, she seems like a really good family, and they were talking about getting engaged this weekend and then all this.”
McBrayer’s older sister, Lori Hunt, told the outlet “we were planning their wedding.”
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