A young couple in Arkansas is dead after a man accidentally killed his girlfriend while “playing” with a gun before he died by suicide.
The Fairbanks Police Department said in a statement that 911 dispatchers first received a call that a man had accidentally shot his girlfriend inside a home on Wednesday, September 16, around 9:12 p.m.
The caller, described as a friend of the man, contacted 911 immediately and stayed on the line as officers reported to the scene. During the phone call, dispatchers reported hearing a disturbance in the background.
As police arrived at the home, they found one woman dead and a man who was “critically injured.” The man was then taken to a local hospital for treatment, where he later died.
The pair has since been identified as Landon Lowrance and CloeRae McBrayer.
An investigation was launched into the matter, and police learned that Lowrance, 22, shot McBrayer, 21, while he was “playing with the gun and pointing it at her.”
“The caller, a friend of Lowrance’s, immediately contacted 911. While the line was open with dispatch, the caller attempted to physically intervene when Lowrance obtained another firearm and shot himself,” police said in the statement. “The caller was interviewed by detectives and is not believed to have been involved in the shootings.”
Police added that the incident was “a tragic and preventable loss of life.”
“The Fairbanks Police Department urges everyone to practice firearm safety at all times,” the department continued. “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.”
Police then asked that anyone with information regarding the case contact FPD detectives at fpdinvestigations@fairbanks.gov or 907-450-6500.
Following the tragedy, McBrayer’s friends and family told KTUU that she was a loving and outgoing “all-American girl.”
McBrayer’s mother, Amanda Hooper, said that her daughter “the sunshine of the family.”
“She’d love to be the center of attention,” Hooper said of McBrayer. “She’s bubbly, she wants you to talk to everybody. She would sing, she helped everybody.”
Hooper added that McBrayer and Lowrance, who was stationed at Fort Wainwright in Alaska, were considering getting engaged.
“She went up [to Fairbanks] for the weekend one time, and then she came back and was like, ‘Mama, he’s a really good guy,’” Hooper recalled. “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.”
Hooper added that she is not “mad” at Lowrance’s family following the tragedy.
“It was out of their control — there was nothing that they could do about it,” she said. “I’m hurt because I don’t know exactly what happened. I know my daughter loved Landon, and I know Landon loved Cloe.”
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