Australia’s The Age reports that an Australian soldier stationed in Iraq shot and killed himself while singing along to The Cranberries’ “Dreams.” His death is Australia’s first casualty in Iraq.
A military investigation made public this week revealed that Private Jake Kovko was playing around with his pistol on April 21 at the same time that he and fellow soldiers were mimicking Dolores O’Riordan’s high-pitched vocals on “Dreams.” The song was a random selection from one of the soldiers’ iPods.
Kovko was in a cramped barracks with two other witnesses, named Soldiers 17 and 19 in reports, when his gun went off.
“I think he might have done it in a joking fashion,” Soldier 17 said in a written statement. “The song we were singing was in a female, homosexual way.”
Soldier 17 said that his only explanation for the death was a joke gone wrong: “He may have pulled the pistol and put it to his head, almost to say, ‘This is so gay I’d rather be dead.’”
Both witnesses heard Kovco mumble something in a half-joking manner before he pulled the trigger, although neither heard it clearly.
Both soldiers insist that they did not see Kovko pull the trigger, and investigators are still unsure whether it was an intentional suicide.
Australia’s The Age has several articles about the ongoing investigation, which you can read here, here, and here.
Source: The Age