David Atherton, Stoneham firefighter, dead after passing, pointing gun with friend

STONEHAM, Mass. -- David Atherton, a Stoneham, Massachusetts, firefighter was shot and killed in a horrific incident late Tuesday night, CBS Boston reports.

The Middlesex District Attorney's Office said Atherton, 24, was drinking with 23-year-old Patrick O'Connor in a home and that the two were "passing a gun back and forth pointing it at each other" around 11:10 p.m.

"It appears the fatal shooting may have been an unintended consequence of this behavior," Meghan Kelly, a spokesperson for the district attorney's office, said in a statement Wednesday.

Atherton, who lived in Stoneham, was pronounced dead at the scene.

O'Connor, also of Stoneham, was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury and discharging a firearm.

He was expected to be arraigned Wednesday in Woburn District Court.

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